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Beef dumpling on a red plate with orange chopsticks and four small white bowls on the side.

Korean Beef Dumplings (Jew Mandu)

Beth Lee
If Korean mandu and Jewish kreplach had a love child, it would be these Korean beef dumplings I call Jew Mandu. Tender braised beef is wrapped in Korean-style dumpling wrappers, pan-fried until crispy, and served with a black vinegar dipping sauce and “hapa banchan” inspired by my family’s Korean, Hawaiian, and Jewish food traditions.
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Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine Hawaiian, Jewish, Korean
Servings 12
Calories 377 kcal

Ingredients
  

To cook the beef

  • 3 pounds beef chuck roast
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • ½ cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 3 cloves garlic peeled and rough chopped
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • 1 Asian pear peeled and shredded
  • 1 onion chopped

To make the filling

  • 4 - 5 napa cabbage leaves
  • 6 green onions
  • ¼ cup sauce from cooking beef

To form the dumplings

  • mandu pi (wrappers) about 72 (number of packages will depend on brand)

Dipping sauce

  • 1.5 cups reduced defatted sauce from beef
  • 4-5 tablespoons black vinegar

Hapa Banchan

Instructions
 

Cook Beef

  • Whisk together the beef broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and shredded Asian pear in a large bowl. Add the meat to the marinade for at least a half hour (longer is good) while you prep the onions and get the pressure cooker ready.
  • Saute the onions on sauté mode in your pressure cooker until they are translucent and just starting to brown. Add the meat and marinade to the pressure cooker on top of the onion. Set the pressure cooker for 70 minutes.
  • Let the pressure cooker natural pressure release (NPR) for 10 minutes at the end. Then finish releasing the steam if necessary and carefully open. Check the meat for tenderness and if done, let it cool then refrigerate the meat separately from the sauce so you can easily remove the congealed fat from the sauce. If it's not tender yet, continue to cook for 5 minutes at a time, always making sure to carefully release the pressure/steam from the unit before opening it again.

Prepare Filling

  • Chop the meat, cabbage and green onions into bite-size pieces and place in a medium bowl. Add the braising liquid. Mix to combine.

Form Mandu

  • Have wrappers nearby (covered), a bowl of water, baking sheets lined with parchment, a small spoon to portion the filling.
    Grab a wrapper and put about 1 tablespoon of filling in the center.
  • Wet the outer edge of the wrapper and fold in half and press the edges to seal. Then wet the outer half moon edge and create folds by pushing and pressing the outer edge on to itself moving across the half moon until you are out of wrapper.
  • Place each mandu on a sheet tray and keep the tray covered with a cloth. When you are done with each tray, place it in the refrigerator (or freezer). When all the dumplings are folded, you can cook some (of course!) or freeze or both.

Make the Dipping Sauce

  • Reduce the cooked sauce by 25 - 50% to create even more depth of flavor. Let it cool and mix it with the black vinegar. That's all there is to it.

Make the Pickled Cucumber Banchan

  • Slice the cucumbers and place in a small bowl. Add salt, sugar and vinegar. Mix and let them sit until you are ready to serve. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Cook the beef dumplings

  • To boil: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once at a rolling boil, place several mandu in the pot - do not crowd them. If not frozen, they will take about 4 minutes to cook. If frozen, 8 - 9 minutes.
  • To pan-fry: Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a 12-inch skillet on medium high. Once hot, place dumplings in the pan in either concentric circles or just randomly. They can be fairly close together.
  • Let them sear/brown on one side, then add about ⅓ cup of water, turn the heat down to medium low then cover and let them cook until the water is gone, about 5 minutes.
  • To steam: Place on parchment paper in steamer baskets and place steamer basket over a pot or pan with boiling water in it.
  • From frozen, steam the dumplings for about 8 minutes.

Notes

  1. Prepare the meat for the filling ahead of time. The meat and remaining gravy are easier to work with cold than hot.
  2. All of the elements of the filling are fully cooked, so feel free to taste it and adjust the seasoning or amount of fresh cabbage or green onions or meat.
  3. Be sure to set up your dumpling assembly before starting to form the mandu. If you have helpers, each person should have their own bowl of water, stack of wrappers and access to a tray to put the dumplings on once folded.
  4. Pro-tip - if you plan to freeze the dumplings, place them on the tray separated from each other as you form them. Then put the tray directly into the freezer once it's filled with Jew Mandu, if you'd like.

Nutrition

Calories: 377kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 28gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 991mgPotassium: 573mgFiber: 2gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 128IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 67mgIron: 4mg
Keyword dumplings, kreplach, mandu
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