Kimchi Mandu is a special kind of Korean dumpling that has lots of Kimchi in the filling. It also is usually made quite big with so much filling that just eating a few of these will make you full and happy!
What is Kimchi Mandu
This North Korean style Kimchi Mandu is also called 이북식 만두 (Yibukshik Mandu) because Yibuk means ‘North Korea’. This dish is what I grew up eating and making at home. Sitting around our table in the kitchen, our family made mandu – probably as many as a hundred especially when it was near Korean New Year’s (설날 Seollal).
Because my grandmother lived with us, we had a lot of relatives visit our home for Seollal. And in those days, guests were ALWAYS fed Tteok mandu guk (떡만두국) no matter what time of day it was. 🙂
This Mandu is also sometimes called – 평양만두 (Pyeongyang mandu) where Pyeongyang is the capital of North Korea, and this mandu originally comes from that area. It can also go by 왕만두 (wang mandu) – ‘wang’ means king in Korean and it means it’s a king-size mandu.
If you’re more interested in a fried version of Korean mandu with glass noodles in the filling, check out my Gun Mandu / Yaki Mandu recipe! It offers a crispier alternative. 😋
With the Korean New Year holiday (설날 Seollal) around the corner, I have a craving for homemade North Korean-style kimchi mandu (dumplings). And I don’t mean just semi-home-made dumplings that use ready-made, store-bought mandu wrappers… I wanted to eat the ones that were made with homemade dough.
Once you have tasted these, you will want to have them again and again… I am sad that these days, very few Koreans make mandu at home like our parents used to when I was little. So.. although my post will be long, I hope you will bear with me and hope that some of you will even find time to make them at home while enjoying the slow process.
The recipe I introduce here uses a combination of pork and beef. You can adjust the amount of the meat (all beef, all pork, etc) and kimchi to your taste.
How to make VEGAN KIMCHI DUMPLINGS
To make a vegan kimchi dumpling, omit meat and substitute with more tofu (4 oz additional) and add 4 oz chopped shitake mushrooms and it will still be delicious!
Mandu Recipe for Korean Kimchi Mandu (Dumplings)
Servings: 18×4 inch mandu Prep Time: 2 hrs Cooking Time: 15 min Difficulty: Medium to High
Ingredients
- 4 oz or 1 C ground beef
- 4 oz or 1 C ground pork
- seasoning for meat
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce (진간장 jinkanjang)
- 1 tsp chopped garlic
- 1 tsp chopped ginger or ½ tsp ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- black pepper
- 1/2 C to 1 cup chopped cabbage kimchi
- 4 oz bean sprouts (roughly 1/2 package of 8 oz bags)
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil + 1/8 tsp salt
- 8 oz extra firm tofu (usually 1/2 Korean tofu package
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil + 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 bunch Korean chives (부추 buchu) or green onions
- Wrapper Dough (만두피 mandu pea)
- 3 C all-purpose flour (use bread flour for more chewy skin)
- 1 T vegetable oil
- ¾ C + 1~2 T water
MAKE THE DOUGH
- Make the dough by mixing 3 C flour, 2 tsp salt, 3/4 C water, and 1 T vegetable oil. Add 1~ 2 T water depending on how your dough comes out. Knead for a few minutes until the dough looks even throughout. It should not be so wet that it sticks to your hands but not so dry that you see dry spots in the dough. It should look something like this –
Keep the dough covered with a wet towel and let it sit for 30 min to 1 hour.
MAKE STUFFING
- Start boiling 4 C of water to cook the sprouts.
- Rinse bean sprouts and cook in boiling water. When the water comes back to a boil after adding the sprouts, turn off the heat. Drain and rinse sprouts in cold water to stop it from cooking further.
Take a handful of cooked sprouts and gently remove excess water by squeezing them into a ball. No need to squeeze too hard— just enough so that they look something like this.
Rough chop cooked sprouts into 1/2 in long pieces.
Season chopped sprouts with 1/2 tsp sesame oil and 1/8 tsp salt.
Chop cabbage kimchi. If you’re using 포기김치 (Pogi kimchi), remove extra seasoning (양념 Yangnyeom) from the cabbage to make it less spicy and salty. You can even rinse the kimchi in water if you want a milder taste.
Combine both ground meats and season altogether with 1 tsp each of soy sauce, chopped garlic, and ginger. Add 1/4 tsp salt and a few dashes of pepper. Mix well.
For tofu, use a cheese cloth to squeeze excess water. This is BEFORE
and AFTER
Season tofu crumbles with 1/2 tsp sesame oil and 1/4 tsp salt.
Chop a handful of Korean chives like so.
Mix meat, bean sprouts, kimchi, tofu and chives altogether.
How to make Korean Dumpling (Mandu) wrappers
- Divide and shape the dough into walnut size (1.5-inch) balls.
Roll out each piece of dough to about 4 in. rounds. I did not have a rolling pin so I used a glass bottle which is exactly what my mom used. And it worked just fine!
Here’s a comparison picture of my home made mandu wrapper on the left and a store-bought one on the right.
Can’t you just taste the difference from looking at it? I think I can!! Haha
Now, we are finally ready to put it all together!!! Take the wrapper and put it on your palm.
Then, take about 2 heaping spoonfuls of the stuffing and put it at the center of the wrapper. The amount of stuffing should feel like it’s too much for the wrapper.
Start sealing the dumpling by pinching the center edges. Since you are making dumplings with fresh dough, there’s no need to use water or egg whites to help the edges seal tight.
Seal off the rest by pinching the remaining sides.
Here is how it looks when dumpling is all closed up!
Sprinkle flour on a tray and lay them on it, without touching each other.
It is time to COOK!!!
You can either cook it in boiling water for 10-15 minutes, until it floats to the top, steam it in a steamer for 10-15 min, or add it to a beef broth for Manduguk (Korean Dumpling Soup). I think boiled dumplings maintain the chewiness of the wrapper skin the best without the edges drying out, which can happen with steaming sometimes.
By the way, if you are wondering how I added the pleated designs into the mandu— here’s how! Just fold the edge once like this, and repeat every couple of centimeters, or 1/2 inch.
** Updated some salt amounts on 12/30/2020
FROM JINJOO!
Tips for storage
- While the rice is cooking, keep smelling the pot to avoid the rice from burning. Adjust fire if you think it’s burning. Try NOT to open the pot while it is cooking. Korean short grain rice are different from long grain rice and don’t do well when you open the pot while it’s cooking.
- You may think the yangnyeom jang sauce is pretty bland for Korean standards but this is how Korean Temple food is. It really tries to bring out the natural flavors of the ingredients which are mushrooms in this case. So do not make the sauce too strong/spicy because it will overpower the mushroom flavor.
- You can use regular sesame oil instead of perilla seed oil. It will be less aromatic but perilla seed oil has a flavor that not everyone likes and is also not easy to get in most countries so sesame oil should work fine.
- You are welcome to use other kinds of mushrooms, but try to use a variety of flavors and textures.
- An electric rice cooker can make your life much easier but you will probably not get the same wonderful flavor.
My favorite Kimchi Dumplings restaurants in seoul
Finally, some restaurant recommendations that serve this kind of Korean dumpling in Seoul – Pildong Myeonok (필동면옥) in Pildong and Jinnampo Myeonok (진남포면옥) in 약수동 are my favorites. These restaurants have been around for generations, started by owners who are originally from North Korea, much like my parents.
A special thank you to my sis #2 for letting me use her kitchen and dishes for this post !! 💕
ENJOY!
XOXO ❤️