Bibim-mandu (비빔만두, Spicy Mixed Dumplings)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 12-inch skillet or griddle
• •Large stainless mixing bowl or yangpun
• •Sharp chef's knife or mandoline
• •Wire rack for holding fried mandu

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut the vegetables

   Shred the cabbage as thin as you can manage, about 2mm wide, and cut the carrot and cucumber into matchsticks about 5cm long. Soak the sliced red onion in cold water for 10 minutes, then drain it well. Keep the vegetables cold and dry in a large bowl. Do not salt them here; salt pulls out water, and this dish needs crunch.

2. 2

   Mix the dressing

   Whisk together the gochujang, rice vinegar, soy sauce, maesil-cheong or rice syrup, sugar, gochugaru, grated garlic, sesame oil, 1 tablespoon water, and 1 tablespoon crushed sesame seeds. Let it sit 10 minutes so the gochugaru softens and the sugar dissolves. The sauce should fall from the spoon in a slow ribbon, not a paste. If it is too stiff, add water 1 teaspoon at a time, no more than 2 teaspoons.

   Taste the sauce before it touches the vegetables. It should land tart first, then sweet, then chili. If it tastes like only gochujang, the cabbage will disappear under it.
3. 3

   Heat the pan

   Pat the mandu dry, especially if they were frozen. Heat a wide 12-inch skillet or griddle over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon oil. A dry surface and a hot pan are what give flat mandu their blistered edges.

4. 4

   Fry the mandu

   Lay half the mandu in the pan in one flat layer, with space between them. Fry 2 to 3 minutes on the first side, then turn and fry 2 minutes more, pressing gently with a spatula so the centers warm through and the edges crisp. Move them to a wire rack, not a plate, so the bottoms stay crisp. Repeat with the remaining oil and mandu.

   If your mandu are thick Korean gun-mandu instead of flat napjak-mandu, cook them through first, then cut each one in half before plating. The dish changes, but it still eats well.
5. 5

   Dress the vegetables

   Add the perilla leaves and scallions to the cold vegetables. Spoon in 6 tablespoons of the dressing and toss with your hands or tongs 15 to 20 times, lifting from the bottom so the cabbage does not bruise. Add 1 more tablespoon dressing only if the vegetables look dry. You should still see pale cabbage and green cucumber; if everything is red, you used too much.

6. 6

   Plate and eat

   Arrange the crisp mandu around a wide platter and mound the dressed vegetables in the center. Scatter the remaining 1 teaspoon sesame seeds over the top and serve any leftover dressing on the side. Eat by folding a warm mandu around the cold vegetables, or tear the mandu and toss them at the table. Do not mix early, or the crisp edges go soft before anyone gets their first bite.

Chef Tips

• •Use real flat mandu if you can find them. They have very little filling, which sounds stingy until you eat them with the vegetables and understand the point: wrapper, crisp edge, sauce, crunch.
• •The safe shortcut is buying the mandu. The unsafe shortcut is thick-cut vegetables. Cabbage cut too wide sheds water and will not wrap neatly inside the dumpling.
• •For game day, keep the dressed vegetables in one chilled bowl and the fried mandu on a rack. Let people fold their own at the table. Do not leave cooked mandu out longer than 2 hours.
• •An air fryer works when the stove is crowded: brush the mandu lightly with oil and cook at 190C / 375F for 6 to 8 minutes, turning once. The texture is drier than pan-fried, but the edges still crisp.
• •Leftover dressing keeps 1 week in the refrigerator. Use it on cold noodles, shredded cucumber, or a bowl of rice with a fried egg, but do not pour it over everything. Let each dish taste like itself.

Advance Preparation

• •The dressing can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Stir it before using, because the gochugaru thickens as it sits.
• •The vegetables can be cut up to 6 hours ahead. Keep them dry, covered, and refrigerated, with the onion drained well. Dress them only in the last 5 minutes.
• •Fry the mandu as close to serving as possible. If you must work ahead, fry them 20 minutes early and hold them on a rack at room temperature, then re-crisp in a 180C / 350F oven for 3 to 4 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 315g)