Pan-fried Korean dumplings packed with pork, kimchi, and glass noodles, crisp on the bottom and juicy inside.
Mandu are Korea's take on the dumpling, carried south along old trade routes from northern China and Manchuria and adapted with kimchi, the ingredient that gives the filling its distinctive tang and gentle heat. The filling combines ground pork with finely chopped napa kimchi, glass noodles, tofu, and garlic chives, bound with egg and sesame oil so it stays juicy through both steaming and pan-frying. Cooked mandu-jeon style, they are steamed briefly then seared in a hot pan until the bottoms turn deep golden and crackling-crisp, served with a soy-vinegar dip that cuts through the richness of the pork.
Serves 4
Combine pork, kimchi, glass noodles, tofu, chives, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl until sticky and well bound.
Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of each wrapper, wet the edge with water, fold in half and pleat to seal tightly.
Arrange dumplings in a lined steamer basket and steam over boiling water for 6-7 minutes until the wrapper turns translucent.
Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high, add the steamed dumplings, and fry 2-3 minutes per side until deep golden and crisp.
Don't crowd the pan or they'll steam instead of crisping.
Stir together soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame seeds.
Serve immediately with the dipping sauce while the bottoms are still crackling.
Squeeze the kimchi hard in a clean kitchen towel before chopping — excess liquid makes the filling weep and blows out the wrappers.
Freeze uncooked mandu on a tray before bagging them; they steam-fry straight from frozen without thawing.
Use a well-seasoned or nonstick pan — carbon steel woks stick to the delicate wrapper edges.
Kimchi mandu can be made vegetarian with mushrooms and extra tofu replacing the pork.
Mul-mandu (boiled dumplings) skip the pan-frying step and are served in a light broth.
Wangmandu are oversized steamed versions sold from street carts, filled the same way but the size of a fist.
Store uncooked mandu in a single layer in the freezer, then transfer to a bag once solid; cook straight from frozen, adding 2 extra minutes of steaming. Cooked leftovers reheat well in a dry skillet over medium heat.
Mandu arrived in Korea via Central Asian and Chinese trade routes during the Goryeo dynasty and became a fixture of Korean royal court cuisine before spreading into home kitchens nationwide.
Yes, round gyoza or mandu wrappers from any Asian grocery work perfectly and save significant time.
Cellophane noodles made from mung bean or sweet potato starch are the closest substitute; regular rice noodles change the texture too much.
That usually means the filling was overfilled or too wet — drain the kimchi thoroughly and don't overstuff the wrapper.
Per serving (220g / 7.8 oz) · 4 servings total
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