Korean Mandoo Making

Korean mandoo was one of the recipes I wanted to attempt to perfect this year.  It is time-consuming to make, but you can make a lot of it and either give it away or freeze it for future dinners.  

Chinese potsticker wrappers(~$1for the pack) and Korean mandoo wrappers (~$3.50)

Buying mandoo wrappers at the Asian market is a tricky process.  Some of them say "potsticker wrappers," "wonton wrappers," or "shumai wrappers."  Some contain eggs, some contain only wheat flour, while others also contain rice flour. 

In this past season of "Top Chef" one of the contestants purchased the incorrect wrapper, and ended up steaming wrappers that were supposed to be boiled.  Be careful when purchasing the wrappers.   

I gambled when I purchased the wrappers and hoped that they would work for mandoo making based on the pictures on the packaging. 

Sweet potato noodles.

Cabbage, chives, chopped round onion

Crumbled drained tofu

Mixture of ground pork, tofu, noodles, chives, cabbage, onion, raw eggs, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and salt and pepper.  I did not measure the ingredients, I just arbitrarily added amounts of ingredients, skewed to a filling containing more vegetables than meat. 

I like to place a lot of filling into the wrapper.

Frying the mandoo. We first pan fried the mandoo in oil, then added water to the pan and "steamed" the mandoo. 

Both the potsticker wrappers resulted in a similar product. The Korean mandoo wrappers were a little bigger than my mandoo press, so there was extra noodle edge. The wrapper tastes were similar, so I would personally buy the cheaper wrapper from now on. 

Mike and I enjoyed the mandoo, but as we started eating the frozen mandoo a couple more times, our enjoyment started to wane.  At the moment, we prefer Ajinomoto's frozen gyoza much more than my mandoo. 
If I am going to pursue Korean mandoo making this year, 1)I have to make less mandoo, 2) invite people over to eat the mandoo, or 3)or develop a super awesome flavor profile for my mandoo that we enjoy a lot more.