This recipe is for traditional, classic Korean dumplings, which everyone loves!
This is my original mandu recipe for pork, beef, and chive dumplings that I posted on May 3, 2008. It shows you how to make dumplings and then fry them or make soup from them. Since then I’ve posted more thorough and better mandu recipes but I’m keeping this classic recipe here for everyone who loves it and loves making it. It may be a little rougher or less clear than my more recent recipes!
Ingredients
Yield: 50 to 60 mandu
- 1 cup of ground pork
- 2 cups of ground beef
- 2 cups of chopped buchu (Asian chives)
- 4-5 soaked Shiitake mushrooms
- half onion
- half package of tofu
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- kosher salt
- sugar
- toasted sesame oil
- vegetable oil
- fish sauce
- egg
- green onion
- mandu skins (60 discs)
Directions
Make filling
- Place 1 cup of ground pork and 2 cups of ground beef into a big bowl.
- Add 1 ts of kosher salt, 1 tbs of toasted sesame oil, ½ ts of ground pepper and mix it by hand and push the mixture of meat on the side of the bowl.
- Wash some Asian chives (buchu), and dry well with a paper towel or cotton cloth. Chop them into 2 cups’ worth of chives. Add 1 tbs of oil and mix it up. Place it in the big bowl next to the ground meat. (tip: the oil coats the vegetables so they retain their moisture)
- Chop 4-5 soaked shiitake mushrooms and half an onion. Put them into a small bowl.
- Add 1 ts of soy sauce, 1 ts of sugar, and 2 ts of toasted sesame oil to the small bowl. Mix by hand and transfer it to the big bowl.
- Squeeze a half package of tofu with a cotton cloth or paper towel and put it into a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and 1 ts of toasted sesame oil. Mix it by hand and then put it next to chopped chives.
- In the big bowl, add 3 cloves of minced garlic and mix all ingredients by hand. This is your mandu filling.
Shape mandu
- Put some of the filling mixture into the center of a mandu skin.
- Use your fingertips to apply a little cold water to one edge of the skin. This will act as a sealant when you fold it over.
- Fold skin in half over filling and press edges together to make ripple shape.
Fry mandu
- Place some vegetable oil on heated pan and add the mandu you made.
- Lower the heat to low-medium and put the lid on the pan to cook.
- Turn over each mandu a few minutes later. Add 2-3 tbs of water and put the lid back on the pan. Cook a few minutes more over low heat.
- When the mandu is golden brown, transfer it to a plate.
- Serve hot with a dipping sauce made of equal parts vinegar and soy sauce.
Make mandu soup
- In a pot, place 6 cups of water, 8 dried anchovies, the leftover shiitake mushroom stems, and the leftover onion. Boil it over medium heat for 20-30 minutes. If too much water evaporates, add more.
- When the stock is done, remove the anchovies and onion.
- Add 1 ts of fish sauce, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and some of your mandu. Keep the lid on the pot. You can add some more salt if you want.
- When the mandu has cooked, it will float to the top.
- Add 1 beaten egg, 2 sliced green onions: Done!
- Serve hot with a bowl of kimchi, and ground pepper to taste.
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Wow, this is almost the same thing we traditionally cook. I am Tatar, and we call those Manti ,but also Tabak borek or Tatar-asi (means Tatar food); even the name is the same :) . It is my favorite amon our traditional Tatar recipes. The difference is that we make them 3-4 times smaller, awe wrap the meat in tiny dough squares, maybe one inch big or even smaller. It is said the smaller the manti it means the cook is better in our tradition :). And as you also said, we gather all the family and make them together because we need to make lots and lots:) . we shape them like you did for the soup, boil them in water, drain them, after sprinkle with hot melted butter and red pepper flakes, and serve them topped with garlic yogurt .Here is a link to the ones we make: http://askanam.blogspot.com/2011/11/tabak-borek.html
Tabak borek looks so delicious!
Interesting how your Tatar recipe is similar to Lithuanian/Polish dumplings, traditionally stuffed with lamp + beef tenderloin amazing combo :). Maybe another proof how various cultures influenced each other. My Grandmother sometimes used to wrap them exactly as on your picture! Best regards
Hey maangchi! I am a beginner in all of this so I was wondering if I could use chicken broth instead of the anchovies? =)
Yes, you can. Chicken broth sounds good to me!
These were wonderful! I added a bit of corn flour into the meat filling before wrapping them into the skin. It made the filling smoother :)
Hey Maangchi!
Thank you for all your recipes, everyone loves them but they seem to like this one and jjangmyun the most!
Depending on who I’m cooking for, I’ll either use the ground pork or chicken. Surprisingly enough, I don’t have to pre-cook the chicken, it cooks perfectly right inside the wraps!
Ever since my girlfriend moved back to Korea, I’ve missed her but also missed the cooking a ton. This brings back awesome memories, I just cant stop cooking!
awesome! Happy cooking!
ermmm, how to make mandu skin? is it possible to do it on my own?
yes, it’s possible. See the dough I made in my sujebi recipe. Spread the dough thinly and make many discs. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sujebi
Hello,
I’m such a big fan of your website. I really want to get to know my Korean roots better and now I can trough your website. My sister learned me how to fold mandu last saturday. She’s also adopted from Korea and loves the food and speaks a little Korean. She loves the food and can make lots of Korean recipes. I made mandu today, 140. It was such fun to fold them, although I enjoy folding them together with my sister and my Hungarian sister in law. I prepared some after the folding and they were delicious, I made your recipe of the filling. My husband also loved them.
Thank you very much for the delicious recipe.
Greetings from Holland
I’m so happy to hear that you had fun while making 140 mandu! lots of work. : )
Hi Maangchi!
3 years ago, when I lost my job, I found your blog…It was like a therapy for me.
Tomorrow I’ll invited to teach in my very first asian cooking class!!
Thank you very much! You are a great teacher!!
Wish me luck!!
:)
Yay! You made my day! I like to invite you to be featured on my fan page. Please email me.
Hello Maangchi !
I live in Sweden and have been looking for “boo chu (Asian chives)” but I can`t find it. Can I replace it with something else? Or if I won`t use it, will there be a big taste difference?
I love your recipes, it is so fun to cook with your recipes !
Thank you !
You can replace buchu with green onions. Happy cooking!
Hi,
I don’t eat pork.what other meat that can be substituted?Pls help cos I loved this mandu v much :)
Use beef or chicken. Yum!
Thanks..will add in some prawns to the chick for mandu.Hope that it will taste as juicy as yours :)
I will be buying the items to make a batch of these for the freezer. Should I just make them up and freeze them right away or partially cook them first?
Thank you for this site, I love all Asian food, especially Korean as I spent almost a year in PoHang. The country is one of two I wish to visit before I die. Wonderful people and wonderful food. Thank you for all you do to keep that alive in me.
I freeze them right away. Check out the video. I’m showing how to freeze them. “Wonderful people and wonderful food.” yes, you are one of them, too! Cheers!
Hi maangchi, I can’t eat beef, so what can I replace it with?
You could use extra pork, or like Maangchi says in the video, use more tofu and mushrooms. I’m going to make these soon, so I’ll use all tofu! It makes delicious dumplings.
Thank you so much for answering on behalf of me! You are awesome!
My family loves Mandu!!!! And I love your easy to make recipe. The wanton wrappers work great. This was my first time making them and they turned out so good, that I impressed my Korean friend. Can’t wait to try more!! Thank you for your awesome website!!!
yay, you are impressing me now! Cheers!
Maangchi!! Tq for your mandu recipe!! :)
I often makes this & always have a frozen mandu at my fridge, my sons and husband love it so much :)
I post this recipe at my blog today : http://elieslie.blogspot.com/2011/09/mandu-korean-dumpling-with-tofu.html
tq for the recipe maangchi, as always u’re the master of korean cooking! ;)
Your mandu looks great! Delicious!
Hey-I’ve had premade mandu here in South Korea, but I’m wanting to make my own when I get back to Canada. Unfortunately Korean/Asian grocery stores are few and far between. Is a wonton wrapper a decent substitute for mandu skins? Is there something better?
Thanks!
“Is a wonton wrapper a decent substitute for mandu skins?” yes, indeed!
how can I steam them …..sorry first time cooking … I did fry that was very good ..at the moment I don’t have dried anchovies so I like to try stem them ,,,,, any advice ( I do have electric steamer and wood steamer ( which I never use becouse I don’t know how ) thank you
My mother used to put some type of clear noodle in with the mandu.. Do you know what that is?
yes, it’s dangmyeon (당면)in Korean: starch noodles or glass noodles https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/starch-noodles
Hey Maangchi, how long can the frozen ones be kept for?
I think it will be ok up to 2 months in the freezer.
Making dumpling is also one of my favorite. In fact, I make my own mandu. The filling is another record for my recipe as this is another new kind. Thanks to dear Maangchi. You’re such a great help. I am still following more on your recipes. Thanks a lot.
Hi there Maangchi!!!! I finally made steamed pork mandu plus Sigeumchi namool…totally success at home (my husband almost finished the mandu barch and left me just a few to taste ^^)!!!
Although i went trough some “technical” problems (i´m almost burned down my poor bamboo steamer) and i think the sesame oil was a little bit stronger, maybe i used more than recommended.
Hope you may help me out, how should i prevent the mandu to stick in the bamboo steamer? Should i try by applying a thin coat of oil?
Thanks for sharing your recepies with all of us!!!!
Schedy Zepeda a.k.a Myengwol
Hi Maangchi, I´m gonna make mandu tomorrow for dinner, but i´m curious…i recently got a bamboo steamer, could i use it to make steamed mandu??? Wouldn´t be any problem?
Yes, a bamboo steamer will work well, too!
Thanks a lot Maangchi (ohhh my God…you answered to me!!!!!)^^
A couple people in my family don’t eat pork or beef. Is it possible to substitute the meat with turkey or chicken?
yes, chicken sounds good to me!
Oh – and for the record, no eggs were needed – the meat and vegetables perfectly blended and stayed together. There was also no excess liquid thanks to the advice to coat everything with sesame oil individually. This recipe requires no tweaking at all.
I made these today. Absolutely. Incredible! The texture and flavors were perfect in every way. These were definitely better than any dumplings I have had in restaurants. I now have a freezer full of dumplings and they will be eaten regularly!
I made these and they were fantastic. Plus, I have a bunch more in my freezer! (see my adventure in making them: http://ikkin-bot.blogspot.com/2011/03/cooking-korean-mandu-dumplings.html) Great recipe!
These came out soooo good! I never thought I would have been able to make dumplings. Thank you for the thorough instructions. And as you suggested, my family and I had a lot of fun making them together and it went a lot faster. thank you!!!
do you know the way to make the Dumpling wrapper?:( cos’ in my place they don’t sell it :(
I make them like homemade pasta – with flour, water, and a little salt. I looked online to find a ratio (because I don’t keep track usually), but most wrapper recipes include an egg. I would say mix 2 cups all-purpose flour, a couple pinches of salt, and about 1/3 cup water and knead until it’s very smooth. Add more water as needed, but err on the side of less water because you can always add more as you go. Let it rest for 20 minutes or so, then roll out until very thin. Using a cup with the rim dusted in flour, cut out circles and fill immediately. If you’d like to reserve them for later use, dust them with a teeny bit of flour to prevent them from sticking and store them in a freezer bag.
Thank you Kayla! Please copy and paste your post on the forum so that more people could read this. The title should be “dumpling skin” https://www.maangchi.com/talk/forum/reader-recipes
Hello Maangchi! :)
I want to try your recipes. So far, I’m still in the process of compiling my favorites. Anyway, I plan making mandu on the holidays and I plan buying mandu skins from the grocery store. Which do you think is better: the one which ingredients includes egg or the one which doesn’t have it?
Thank you!
Hi there, i just joined your website, Im from England and have been here now for 2 years. I LOVE your recipes, im going to attempt the Mandu tonight, just waiting for my mushrooms to finish soaking.
I had never tried Korean food untill this year in which my Taekwondo Master introduced it to me, i go the the Keo Ku Jang Restaurant in Parsippany, NJ alot with friends. Just cant get enough of it.
Im going to be hosting an Asian themed dinner party next month for friends so i need to start practicing my Cooking skills!!!
I am thinking of making these, but it looks like the recipe makes a lot, would I be able to freeze some to cook later?
Yes, you can freeze them for later use. If you watch the video, you will see how I freeze them.
If asian chives aren’t available, what can you substitute them with in the recipe?
No problem! Use green onions then.
Thanks for this recipe! I made your mandoo for a party and it was a hit (even though I forgot the shitake). I am going to make mandoo and your kalbi recipe for a baby shower on Sunday.
What do you do with the leftover Wangja?
Maangchi – i made a vegetarian version of this recipe, excluding pork and beef, and adding chopped carrots and ginger instead. It turned out really well. A tip that I have, though, is that without the meat, the onion flavor can be a bit overpowering. Decrease the onions (by maybe even half!) and maybe add something like cabbage or squeezed kimchi. And voila, veggie mandu.
Ravi,adding squeezed kimchi sounds great. And you could also add more tofu, too. I’m happy to hear that your vegetarian version mandu worked well.
Let’s share your wisdom for my other vegetarian readers. Leave your modified mandu recipe here so that I can refer my vegetarian readers to it.
https://www.maangchi.com/talk/forum/reader-recipes
hi Maangchi! I LOVE your recipies and I have already tried many of them. I have a question: How do you cook wan ja? I mean, can I fry them as you do in this video with mandu?
Hi Maangchi! I made your mandu last night and it was DELICIOUS! So good that I changed my name to “lil mandoo”, LOL. I LOVE your website, especially your videos. I can’t wait to try the other recipes! Thank you!!! xx
haha, lil mandoo! cool name.