Kimchi Napjak Mandu (Flat Dumplings)
Updated Jan. 28, 2025
- Total Time
- 2 hours
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1¾ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2teaspoons sugar
- 3ounces dangmyeon (Korean sweet potato glass noodles; see Tip)
- 1packed cup drained, very ripe kimchi, finely chopped (about 10 ounces)
- 4large scallions, finely chopped, plus more for serving
- 4teaspoons coarse gochugaru (see Tip), plus more for serving
- 4teaspoons soy sauce or fish sauce
- 2teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- Salt
- 50 to 60store-bought or homemade 3-inch square wonton wrappers
- Olive or neutral oil, such as canola or vegetable, for frying
- Flaky sea salt, for serving
For the Dipping Sauce (optional)
For the Mandu
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Preparation
- Step 1
Make the dipping sauce, if using: In a bowl, stir together the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and 2 tablespoons of water; set aside.
- Step 2
Make the mandu: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to package directions, about 8 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the noodles directly to a colander to drain and cool slightly, about 1 minute, leaving the remaining water in the pot. Finely chop the noodles and add to a medium bowl.
- Step 3
To the bowl with the noodles, add the kimchi, scallions, gochugaru, soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar. Stir to combine, then season to taste with salt.
- Step 4
Assemble the dumplings: Using a mini cookie scoop or a spoon, plop about 2 teaspoons of the filling in the center of a dumpling wrapper. Dip your fingertips into a bowl of water and wet the four edges; fold the dumpling in half diagonally to create a triangle, pressing the edges to seal. Transfer to a large parchment-lined sheet pan and repeat with the rest of the filling and dumpling wrappers. (If you’re not cooking off the dumplings right away, you can freeze them on the sheet pan at this step, then, once frozen, transfer to a resealable bag and freeze for up to 2 months.)
- Step 5
Bring the pot of water to a boil again and, working in batches and without crowding the pot, boil the dumplings until their wrappers go from looking matte to shiny (the dumplings may float, as well), about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or spider, transfer the dumplings to a plate. If you have a microwave, microwave them on high for 20 to 30 seconds to turn any residual water to steam, or simply drain them on a paper towel. This optional microwaving step also removes any water and air bubbles inside the dumplings, so the wrapper tightens around the filling.
- Step 6
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium, then add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom. Fry the dumplings in batches, flipping once or twice, until a little crispy and lightly browned on both sides, 3 to 5 minutes per batch. They may balloon during this process (that’s a good thing). Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Step 7
To serve, sprinkle the dumplings with some finely chopped scallions, gochugaru and flaky sea salt. Enjoy with the dipping sauce.
- Dangmyeon are wonderfully bouncy, chewy, translucent noodles made from sweet potato starch. Available online and in any Korean grocery store, they come in large plastic bags, as the dried noodles are long and stiff until they’re cooked. Often labeled as glass noodles, sweet potato noodles or Korean vermicelli, starchy dangmyeon become slack, slippery and beautifully shiny once boiled.
- Gochugaru, a flavorful Korean red-pepper powder, ranges from a fine dust to tiny coarse flakes. Try to buy the coarse variety, both for deeper, sweeter flavor and for color, a gleaming crimson. You can find gochugaru at Korean and other Asian supermarkets and at many grocery stores, as well as online.
Private Notes
Comments
As someone hailing from Daegu, I’m delighted to see this recipe! Typical napjak mandus have barely any fillings (a few cut pieces of dangmyeon and chives, that’s it, and it’s practically paper thin) but this variation looks great. I might just do a half moon in honor of the hometown tradition. Thanks, Eric for the note on napjak Mandu including the acknowledgment of the origin!
@Arvind, I’m GF and vegan. I don’t mind looking at non-compliant recipes bc it’s generally easy for me to determine whether I can make suitable substitutions. It opens me up to recipes that I might otherwise not see.
It would be nice if recipes that can easily be made vegetarian (as this one seemingly can with the use of suitable kimchi) are marked as "vegetarian-optional" - it would open up recipes that might otherwise be hard to find for those with dietary restrictions.
Made as written except used japanese harusame because that’s what I had on hand. I found the boiling then pan frying a bit finicky and next time i think i’ll just do the regular steam-fry for these (sautee in oil, then add water and cover for a couple min).
The morning I discovered the dumpling week article I was feeling a little down. I watched all the videos and it really lifted my mood! Thank you. Last week I had a dumpling party, making three of the dumplings in the article and this one, like all the others, was fantastic. It was easy, crispy and delicious.
Awesome recipe but made a few mistakes worth sharing: used homemade, very flavorful and ‘very ripe’ kimchi as suggested but the flavor didn’t come through as expected. I did drain the kimchi, possibly too much as I was worried the filling might become too heavy for the delicate wonton wrappers. The noodles soak up a ton which I didn’t know as this was my first experience with sweet potato glass noodles. Also thinking the short boil may flush out some flavors so need to take that into consideration with spice amounts next time. Can’t wait for my second try around as I love the idea of kimchi filled dumplings. Go Eric, love the video!
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