Shrimp and Asian chive dumplings

Saeu buchu mandu 새우 부추 만두

Today I’m going to show you a delicious, easy recipe for making Korean dumplings (aka mandu: 만두). Deliciousness of dumplings depends on the filling. My classic mandu recipe video has been used by many of my readers over the years, to great success! But the mandu I’m showing today is made with only a few ingredients and is much simpler and easier to make.

Even though this recipe is simpler, it’s still incredibly delicious. The combination of the flavors of the ingredients is perfectly tasty and succulent, with a savory richness. It took me many experiments to come up with the combination and ratio, and this is the one that passed my test.

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I pick up mandu wrappers from the Asian grocery store and then my strategy is to prepare this fast and freeze almost all of them in a plastic bag. This way, I always have them on hand for a quick meal or snack, or to add to something else. You can pan-fry them (see my wang-mandu recipe for instructions), steam them, or make soup with them. If you drop a few to your Korean ramyeon, it’ll be an instant, delicious upgrade.

You can also make your own mandu wrappers with my recipe for mandu-pi, but be sure to make them smaller for this recipe, about 3 inches round. And if you like pork, you can simply replace the shrimp with pork in the recipe below to make pork dumplings.

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it! It’s really a lot of fun to make, and fun to eat. I guarantee everyone will love them!

Ingredients

(makes 25 dumplings)

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For dipping sauce:

Directions

Make the dipping sauce:

  1. Mix the dipping sauce ingredients (soy sauce, vinegar, hot pepper flakes, and sesame seeds) in a small bowl. Set aside.mandu dipping sauce

Make the filling:

  1. Combine shrimp, Asian chives, tofu, kosher salt, ground black pepper, toasted sesame oil, and potato starch in a bowl and mix well with a spoon.mandu filling
  2. Put a wrapper on your palm and put some water on the edge of the wrapper. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling to the center of the wrapper and fold it along the edge to seal.mandu fold
  3. Fold ripples into the edge to hold it together and make a nice looking pouch.mandu folding
  4. Repeat until you’ve made mandu from all your fillings.mandu

Steam the mandu:

  1. Boil water in a steamer. Line the steamer rack or basket with a parchment paper.mandu steamer
  2. Place some mandu in the steamer basket and steam for 15 to 20 minutes.mandu steam

Serve:

  1. Remove from the heat. If you use a bamboo steamer, you can put it directly on the table. Otherwise, it will be easier to plate the mandu before serving.steamed mandu
  2. Serve with the dipping sauce

Posted on Friday, May 27th, 2016 at 3:24 pm. Last updated on July 29, 2021.
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21 Comments:

  1. freldici France joined 6/20 & has 28 comments
    Posted January 4th, 2022 at 9:23 pm | or create a profile.

    Bonjour Maangchi ! Voici mes tout premiers mandu avant cuisson vapeur. Je suis très fière !!! Le pliage a été un peu compliqué mais ça viendra ! Après cuisson , ils sont délicieux . Merci beaucoup Cindy de Paris, France


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  2. fina Indonesia joined 9/17 & has 1 comment
    Posted September 23rd, 2017 at 11:26 am | or create a profile.

    can i change potato starch into corn starch? it will make any different?

  3. Aoni Germany joined 2/17 & has 1 comment
    Posted February 18th, 2017 at 10:19 am | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi,

    I just found you on youtube and want to make this mandu recipe. My question is: when i use frozen, already cooked shrimps, how long do i have to steam them? Still 20 minutes? :)
    already looking forward to making these!

  4. Moonie Vietnam joined 4/16 & has 4 comments
    Posted December 11th, 2016 at 3:05 am | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi! Thanks for your incredible recipe! I tried it out yesterday and it was stunning!! I’ve also followed your homemade dumpling wrappers but there were some problems.. when I steamed the dumplings, the dough turned out to be a little bit hard. Is that because my wrappers were too thick? :(( I can’t roll them thinner because they will tear easily later when I put the filling in. Do you have any solution to this :((

  5. elegantlyysimple California joined 12/16 & has 1 comment
    Posted December 6th, 2016 at 2:10 am | or create a profile.

    Mine don’t look as pretty as yours. I can’t get the dumplings to look stay pinched up at the top, but they taste great! I didn’t add tofu though but it was still juicy. This recipe is a home run!


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  6. knitkitsune United States joined 6/14 & has 5 comments
    Posted July 19th, 2016 at 11:27 pm | or create a profile.

    Hello Maangchi!

    I finally got a chance to make these dumplings today! I panfried a few to go with some other side dishes and put the rest in the freezer for later. They were delicious and my husband loved them! I can’t wait to try them in soup! I also got your cookbook recently and am looking forward to making the Braised Lotus Root dish this week as well. Your new mushroom soup recipe will be on the menu this week too!

    Thank you for all your delicious recipes! Everytime someone compliments my Korean cooking, I tell them it is easy to learn with you!


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    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,047 comments
      Posted July 20th, 2016 at 3:14 pm | or create a profile.

      wow, it sounds like you are having fun cooking many delicious Korean dishes! : ) The dumplings look amazing! Yes, you will love dumpling soup. I add them to noodle soup, spicy fish soup, and even to Korean instant ramyeon. Good luck with your Korean cooking!

  7. GreenChileKimchi Santa Fe, NM joined 6/16 & has 1 comment
    Posted June 12th, 2016 at 1:56 am | or create a profile.

    So delicious!!! This is the first recipe that we’ve made from this blog — Maangchi, you already are our favourite chef. Because of you, these dumplings came out great and now we have the confidence to do more Korean cooking!


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  8. YumemiruJin New York joined 10/13 & has 1 comment
    Posted June 8th, 2016 at 5:47 pm | or create a profile.

    Is there a way to cook these without steaming them? I don’t have a steamer big enough to cook them all at once.

  9. EvilGrin joined 6/15 & has 46 comments
    Posted May 30th, 2016 at 11:50 am | or create a profile.

    A thai style dipping sauce made with fish sauce is also an option. Swap out the soy for fish sauce and add a teaspoon of sugar. I prefer fresh chopped chilis instead of flakes for this style of dipping sauce.

    I make my normal dipping sauce with a little mirin, toasted sesame oil, ginger and green onion too. If you add mirin you can leave out the sugar unless you like it sweeter.

    A simple chili oil also works if you really like spicy. Its just pepper flakes, regular sesame oil and a pinch of salt. Mix oil and pepper flakes. The flakes will expand into a paste and absorb all the oil. Let it rest for a while and add just enough additional oil to cover the flakes.

    The left over chili oil makes a nice condiment to spicy up a bowl of soup.

  10. Chasvalex Oregon joined 5/16 & has 2 comments
    Posted May 29th, 2016 at 4:23 pm | or create a profile.

    I would really love to make these but I can’t eat soy. Is there any substitution for it?

    • Ermin Fei Indonesia joined 2/15 & has 32 comments
      Posted May 30th, 2016 at 11:01 am | or create a profile.

      Hi Chas,

      If you can’t eat soy products, you might want to make this as dipping sauce:

      1. finely sliced ginger, black or red vinegar

      2. Red chilli slightly boiled to soften, blend together in food processor with some garlic and warm water. Then add sugar, salt and lemon water to taste.

      Good luck

    • Dindlast Arizona joined 8/16 & has 1 comment
      Posted August 9th, 2016 at 8:30 pm | or create a profile.

      Hello. I just made an account to reply to you, because like you, I also cannot have soy. I have some tips that may help you out in this regard.

      Erin Fei’s recommended sauce recipe is definitely an option, but if you want to use maangchi’s recipe, replace the soy sauce with coconut aminos. This is a soy-free soy sauce substitute that I use all the time. It tastes almost exactly like soy sauce, only since it’s made from coconut it’s a bit sweeter than regular soy sauce. To combat this, just add a bit more vinegar to this sauce recipe and perhaps a bit of salt. This will add back that tartness that you get from regular soy sauce.

      As for the soft tofu in the dumplings (in case you weren’t aware, tofu is also made with soy) I have heard that you can replace soft tofu with either yogurt (I’d recommend plain Greek yogurt, because it’s thicker and more tart – preferably strained Greek yogurt if you can get your hands on it. I know fage makes a great strained Greek yogurt), sour cream or ricotta cheese. I know it sounds questionable to use these products in place on soft tofu, but actually soft tofu is made almost exactly like western yogurt or soft cheeses, the only difference is that it is made from soy milk as opposed to regular cows milk, so the results should be similar. I haven’t tried these, but I plan on making these dumplings tonight with strained Greek yogurt. I’ll be sure to let you know how they come out. Keep in mind that because yogurt, ricotta cheese and sour cream are all milk products they will spoil faster than these dumplings that maangchi made. If you freeze them they will keep for longer, however.

      In future, if there is a recipe you want to make that requires regular hard tofu, I’d recommend seeking out Burmese tofu. Unlike most tofu which are made from soy beans, Burmese tofu is made from garbanzo beans. It is made in the same process, only it uses a different bean. The result is a slightly softer tofu that is yellow in color as opposed to white. It doesn’t fry as well as regular tofu, but it’s a great replacement for those of us that can’t have soy products. They also make garbanzo bean versions of many soy products, for example you can find garbanzo bean miso paste for miso soup.

      Sorry I went on for so long. I hope I was able to be helpful!

  11. stonefly Olympia WA joined 11/11 & has 61 comments
    Posted May 28th, 2016 at 1:35 am | or create a profile.

    Maangchi, they look wonderful and so simple! We will be having these tomorrow. And thank you for showing us the ‘Hot Maangchi Mouth,’ the hottest mouth around when tasting something super, super hot! Wow wow wow!!!

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