Outside of a Dog: mandu

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Recipe: Spicy Tofu Dumpling!

Today when I looked in the fridge to think of something to make for lunch, I realized something. I had a bunch of random leftovers that needed to start being used. I had about half a pack of dumpling wrappers, 3/4 of a large tub of soft tofu, some green onions, and a whole lot of brown mushrooms. All of this was left over from making Korean Dumplings of Mandu.

Random food ready to be used . . .

I decided I'm make a dumpling experiment for lunch. The recipe could easily be made vegan or vegetarian, though I used fish sauce.

Ingredients:
3/4 of a tub of soft tofu (you could use a whole tub or deep fry the extra 1/4 as Agedashi)
5 or so green onions
4 - 5 good sized Puccini mushrooms
pack or part of a pack of dumpling wrappers (I used 22)
2 tbs sesame oil (will be used separately)
1 tbs fish sauce (use soy sauce to be vegan or vegetarian)
1tbs red pepper paste
pinch salt and sugar

1. Drain the tofu really good by ringing it out in a paper towel. I know it sounds weird but its important. It should be crumbly when you up it in the bowl.
2. Add about 1 tbs sesame oil, 1tbs red pepper paste (less if you don't want it spicy) and 1tbs fish sauce (or soy sauce). Mix really well by hand.

I used a spoon first and then used my hands after.

3. Cut up the mushrooms and onions. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Add 1tbs sesame oil (or enough to coat the veggies well).

This step is important! Make sure its coated in oil!

4. Mix it all together by hand!

Everything all together

5. Take out a skin and hold in one had. Scoop in the filling about a tbs-ish. Wet the edge of the sink with some water and pinch shut. This will take awhile until your used to it.

Put the filling in . . .

Seal it up . . . yes I'm using water from my Batman glass.

22 dumplings ready to be cooked!

6. Heat some oil (any type) in a pan. When hot (at medium heat) put in some dumplings . . . make sure they aren't touching . . . sometimes they stick!

Side one is cooking

7. Cook couple of minutes each side (until nice and golden brown). If they had meat in them you'd want to add a bit of water to the pan and steam them a bit too, with the tofu its not really necessary unless you are concerned with the middles being hot. I did not have this problem.

Looking yummy after the flip!

That's it! Now you have yummy spicy dumplings! Make sure you cook or freeze them right away or you could have integrity issues (put them on a plastic wrapped covered surface and then cover them with plastic wrap and put them in a freezer. When frozen put in a bag!)

Ninjas love dumplings!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Cooking Korean: Mandu (dumplings)!

Tonight I made some dumplings. I used a recipe I found at Maangchi.com. I just can't resist dumplings so I new I had to make these. First, you should watch the video, so that you can see that you'll just fine making these!

I followed the recipe as exactly as I could. I could not find round skins at the two grocery stores I went too . . . having already bought everything else I used square skins. this means my mandu are not quite as cute, but they still turned out good. I should note that it took me about 40 minutes to make all the mandu (I wasn't trying to go quickly, but it will take a bit if your doing it by yourself).