Happy Mandoo New Year!

Just about every culture has a dumpling of some sort, and for Koreans, it's mandoo.

Every New Year's Eve we eat ttok kuk (rice cake soup) and on New Year's Day, we eat mandoo. (Do you?)  For those that aren't familiar with mandoo (or mundoo), they are are usually either boiled in soup or fried.  They are easy to make and we have a tradition in our house where my mom, siblings, and I "compete" to see who can make the prettiest mandoo.  Legend has it that if you made pretty mandoo, your children will be pretty, too.

It starts with filling which is usually a combination of ground pork, tofu, green onions, and kimchi. In my family we also add garlic and cooked bean sprouts. The wet ingredients must be squeezed absolutely dry or the mandoo will fall apart when boiled.  A food processor makes quick work of getting the ingredients chopped finely and blended. (My sister working the Cuisinart.)

The filling should be dry and crumbly.

Place about a teaspoon into the center of a mandoo pi (wrapper) and seal by moistening edges with an egg wash.  Seal tightly to ensure the filling doesn't leak out of the dumplings.

A tray of mandoo about to be cooked. You can see we all have our own technique:

If you've never made mandoo before, it really isn't hard. The dumpling-making is the most time-consuming part. Once they are made, you simmer the mandoo gently in a pork-beef-chicken broth (yes, all three) until they float and then maybe a minute more. Reserve some chicken meat from the broth to garnish the soup later. You can cook about a dozen at one time.

Serve in bowls with the broth (a little or a lot, we serve "not too much" soup). Garnish with strips of kim (roasted seaweed), cilantro leaves, shredded chicken, and strips of egg omelette (an omelette which has been cut into a thin chiffonade). Serve with ko chu jung (hot red pepper) sauce on the side.

At least that's how we do it in my family.  How do you do it in yours?

Happy New Year!!

—Stefania Pomponi Butler

Comments

[Rachel]

Yum! Those look so good.

[eliaday]

We missed out on the new year's traditions this year.

In our family's tradition, new year's day is another day that is centered on paying respects to ancestors - with elaborate food prepared that they liked (including coffee and cigarettes). There's incense and bowing and the openning of doors to let spirits in (or out?).

And of course, a huge Korean meal bright and early in the morning. Yum.

[kim]

My husband's family always serves up big steaming bowls of ttok kuk with mandoo cooked in it - and it's definitely garnished with kim, egg and green onion slices. They serve it with the white (mul?)kimchi instead of the regular red variety - the reasoning was explained to me years ago but it's something about being / staying clean? It's a far cry from my days growing up in Southern VA... and that means that I no longer have to face the big bowl of black eyed peas offered annually by my mom for good luck. Whew!

[CityMama]

Eliaday, we do the same "coffee/cigarettes" routine, but also add booze to that equation. We've been known to pour a shot or two of my grandparents' favorite liquor over their grave. I thought it was just us...so glad to know we're not alone!

[beloved]

I made mandoo once and although it looked okay, it was pretty tasteless because it was my first attempt and I hadn't played with the seasoning at all. I found it very time consuming but I suppose the more often you make it, the faster you get.

We rang in the new year with kamja tang. I hope it's not bad luck being that it's the year of the pig and all. :o(

[Angie in Texas]

mandu tok and black eyed peas, baby!

nothing like a clash of cultures!

[CityMama]

Angie and Kim, we had black-eyed peas on NYE, too. My (Korean) uncle is married to a woman from Alabama. Crazy, mixed-up family!

[Laura]

oh yum!!!! maybe i'll cheat tonight and take out the frozen mandoo. don't tell my mom!

we did the Dduk Gook with mandoo on new year's day. since my family did not eat pork, we usually cooked broth along the lines of solantang with kim, egg and green onions. all the kids made the mandoo by hand in the morning and always tried to stuff them to the point of bursting. plenty of finger-wagging from our moms but it was fun.

we also always dressed up in our hanbok and did the traditional bow to the elders of the family. that usually entailed someone tipping over since we had to use the complicated leg position bow, which we all didn't have the leg or stomach muscles to pull off. but the reward was one of those lovely envelopes with some money so it was all fun and worth getting up at 6am to start the day!

[Kimchihead]

I got hungry looking at the pictures. :)

[Nina]

In our family we usually add chopped up glass noodles and cabbage to the mandu filling. And most of us don't eat pork so we use beef instead. Or just tofu. We also make two batches - one with kimchi and one without. Yeah, we're a picky bunch.

The first year we were married we had ddukgook at my husband's uncle's house. We dressed up in our wedding hanboks and bowed to his parents and uncle and aunt (and got money!) and then all of the younger generation bowed to each other. Later in the day we visited his halmoni and bowed to her too. Then we headed over to my uncle's house for mandugook, but no bowing (and no money).

Since then it's been more casual because his parents live in Korea and my family doesn't get upset if we're not there. But I do have fond memories of all the women in the family sitting around the kitchen making mandu early in the morning.

[Glennia]

My mom uses chap chae noodles in mandoo also, but no kimchi. We had the frozen ones on Christmas Eve (a tradition) and bulgogi, which is just about the only Korean food my Caucasian dad will eat. My parents normally have black eyed peas and sour kraut on New Years, but I don't like either one so I won't cook them!