Mandu: Let's make some dumplings!

In the last 12 years, I could not count how many thousands of dumplings I have made. These are mostly my take on the typical Chinese dumpling. The ones I usually make are famous for, homemade wrappers, home-ground pork butt, an incredible amount of bok choy, Napa cabbage, spinach, and scallion. Seasoned in fresh ginger, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and soy sauce. I also make a homemade dipping sauce that is so many things at once.

I am so down with that method that I have felt like the new kid in those times that I decided to try dumplings a different way. In the process, I learned that even a leftover meal, such as the japchae can be spooned into wrappers, sealed, fried to a crispy bottom, and then steamed to finish. You won't believe how awesome this can be. The wrapper is that blanket of love that can take something you make into a whole new place.

Mandu is a Korean dumpling. These are more freestyle. They can consist of many or even anything vegetable or meat-wise. This means one thing to me, refrigerator cleanout time. During lunchtime, I got out the grinder attachment for the KitchenAid and ground up the pork. At dinner time, everything I could find got pulled out: Napa cabbage, onion, scallion, enoki mushrooms, carrot, tofu, spinach, zucchini, and seasonings.

I did not have time to do homemade wrappers, so I tried three different things. First egg roll wrappers, but those were damaged, wonton wrappers, but those were too tedious for this sport utility style filling, and finally a package of dumpling wrappers that I found at my local Asian market a couple months ago. Then I tried 3 different methods of cooking them.

For me, I would have to say that making Mandu is a wonderful reminder that the sky is the limit. I used 3 different wrappers and 3 different cooking methods, (I had to chisel batch # 2 off of the wok) and I utilized whatever I had in the fridge for the filling. As I enjoyed my bowl of these steamed dumplings with their crispy caramelized bottoms, I remembered the badge of honor and creativity of the Korean people who carried their families through war and famine. Not only did they feed their families, but they did it with a brand of eloquence that is impossible not to be moved by.

The practicality of it all is the best. It shouts out, "I will not surrender to ordering overpriced mediocre takeout tonight! I will not suffer the buyer's remorse that now comes with ordering out food these days." In the wake of these dark days where the ad mongers' propaganda rides high in the collective psyche, we all still have a choice. Let's stop going to assembly line "elevated fast food" telling ourselves that it was good, and get into our own kitchens and make some dumplings!

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