Mul-mandu (물만두, Boiled Dumplings)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth for squeezing tofu and vegetables
• •Digital scale or measuring spoons for portioning 10g filling
• •Large wide pot, 4 to 5 liter capacity
• •Spider skimmer or wide slotted spoon
• •Sheet pan dusted lightly with potato starch

Instructions

1. 1

   Dry the vegetables

   Toss the chopped cabbage with 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and let it stand 15 minutes. While it rests, wrap the tofu in a clean towel and press it under a plate. Squeeze the cabbage hard in the towel until no liquid runs freely, then squeeze the tofu the same way. Thin mul-mandu wrappers have no patience for wet filling; the water you leave in the bowl becomes the split seam in the pot.

   After squeezing, the cabbage should weigh about 150g and the tofu about 160g. If a spoonful of liquid gathers in the mixing bowl, squeeze again.
2. 2

   Blanch the sprouts

   Bring a small pot of water to a boil and cook the mung bean sprouts for 2 minutes with the lid off. Drain, cool just enough to handle, then squeeze them dry and chop them into 1cm pieces. Sprouts give mandu a clean crunch, but only if they are dry enough to join the filling instead of watering it down.

3. 3

   Mix the filling

   Put the pork, squeezed cabbage, squeezed tofu, chopped sprouts, buchu, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, egg, potato starch, pepper, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Mix with your hand in one direction for 1 minute, until the filling turns tacky and holds together. That stickiness is not rough handling; it is the pork protein binding the filling so it cooks as one tender bite.

4. 4

   Test the seasoning

   Cook 1 teaspoon of filling in simmering water or in the microwave until fully cooked, then taste it. Do not taste raw pork. The filling should be savory enough to season the plain wrapper around it, with garlic and sesame in the background. If it tastes dull, add 1 teaspoon more soy sauce, mix again, and write that down. Memory is a borrowed bowl.

5. 5

   Fold the mandu

   Keep the wrappers covered with a damp towel so the edges do not crack. Put 2 level teaspoons, about 10g, of filling in the center of one wrapper. Wet the edge lightly with water, fold into a half-moon, press the air out from the center toward the sides, and seal firmly. Bring the two corners together if you like the round mul-mandu shape. Set each one on a starch-dusted tray and keep it covered.

   Notebook 47 says 10g filling for an 8cm wrapper. More looks generous on the table and foolish in the pot.
6. 6

   Make the dip

   Stir together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, water, scallion, sesame seeds, gochugaru if using, and sugar if your vinegar is sharp. The sauce should be bright and salty, not sweet. Mul-mandu is pale and clean, so the dip does the waking up without burying the dumpling.

7. 7

   Boil in batches

   Bring 3 liters of water to a lively boil in a wide pot. Lower in 12 to 14 dumplings and stir once with a spider or slotted spoon so they do not stick to the bottom. When the dumplings float and the wrappers turn glossy and slightly translucent, cook 60 to 90 seconds more, 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 minutes total for fresh dumplings. Cut open the first one, or check that the center reaches 71 C / 160 F. The first float is a signal to pay attention, not permission to serve raw filling.

   Frozen mandu go straight from freezer to pot. Do not thaw them, or the wrappers turn gummy; add about 2 minutes to the cooking time.
8. 8

   Serve at once

   Lift the mandu out with a spider, pause 5 seconds over the pot, then move them to shallow bowls. Do not pile them high, because the weight tears the thin skins. A little cooking water clinging to the wrappers is correct; it keeps them slippery. Eat them hot with the soy-vinegar dip, while the wrapper still has its soft pull.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the thinnest fresh mandu wrappers you can find, about 8cm wide. Thick wrappers are not wrong, but they belong better to pan-frying or soup; mul-mandu should feel light and slippery.
• •The safe shortcut is bought wrappers. The unsafe shortcut is leaving the vegetables wet. If you save five minutes there, you spend the meal watching dumplings open in the pot.
• •Make one tester before folding the whole tray. 손맛 is real, the hand-taste a cook learns by repetition, but I still measure it so it can be handed on.
• •Boil in batches. A crowded pot drops in temperature and knocks the dumplings against each other, which tears the seams before the filling has time to set.

Advance Preparation

• •The cabbage, tofu, and sprouts can be drained, squeezed, and refrigerated up to 1 day ahead. Keep them covered and cold.
• •The raw filling can be mixed up to 12 hours ahead and kept refrigerated below 4 C / 40 F. Do not leave it at room temperature while you fold; work in batches if your kitchen is warm.
• •Shaped uncooked mandu freeze well. Set them on a tray until firm, then bag them for up to 1 month. Boil from frozen and add about 2 minutes.
• •The dipping sauce can be made 3 days ahead. Add the scallion on the day you serve it so it stays clean and sharp.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)