Discover Korean Food #48: Dr. Sook-Ja Yoon's "Mandutguk, Dumpling Soup"

Mandutguk is a soup made of dumplings simmered in beef broth, often served in the winter. The dumplings have wheat flour wrappers stuffed with fillings such as meat, tofu, Kimchi and other vegetables. People enjoy mandutguk on lunar new year’s day because it represents fortunes wrapped in the dumplings.

[Ingredients & Quantity]
Broth: 300 g beef (brisket·shank), 2.2 kg (11 cups) water
Fragrant seasoning : 50 g green onion, 20 g (4 cloves) garlic
Dough for dumpling skin : 143 g (1½ cups) wheat flour, 2 g (½ tsp) salt, 75 g (5 tbsp) water
160 g minced beef (top round)
160 g cabbage kimchi
160 g (⅓ cake) tofu
200 g mung bean sprouts, 1 kg (5 cups) water, 4 g (1 tsp) salt
10 g watercress, 7 g (1 tbsp) wheat flour, 13 g (1 tbsp) edible oil
Seasoning : 4 g (1 tsp) salt, 9 g (2 tsp) minced green onion, 5.5 g (1 tsp) minced garlic, 6 g (1 tbsp) sesame salt, 0.3 g (⅛ tsp) ground black pepper, 13 g (1 tbsp) sesame oil
9 g (½ tbsp) clear soy sauce, 4 g (1 tsp) salt
vinegar soy sauce : 18 g (1 tbsp) soy sauce, 15 g (1 tbsp) vinegar, 15 g (1 tbsp) water

[Preparation]
1. Clean blood of beef with cotton cloths. Wash and clean fragrant seasoning. Put the beef and water into the pot, heat it up for 10 min. on high heat. When it boils, lower the heat to medium, continue to simmer it for 30 min. Add fragrant seasoning, simmer for another 20 min. Take out the beef from the broth, cool the broths down and filter through cotton cloths (1.6 kg).
2. Sprinkle salt on the wheat flour and knead with water. Wrap it with damp cotton cloths and let it sit for 30 min. (220g).
3. Remove the inside stuffs from cabbage Kimchi,, chop the Kimchi finely, squeeze the Kimchi juice out (85 g). Wrap the tofu with cotton cloths, mash by squeezing (100 g). Wash the mung bean sprouts.
4. Panfry the watercress after coating with wheat flour and beaten egg. Panfry egg for garnish, cut them into 2 cm diaper shape.
5. Blend vinegar soy sauce.

[Recipe]
1. Pour water into the pot, heat it up for 5 min. on high heat. When it boils, scald mung bean sprouts with salt for 2 min. chop it into 0.5 cm-long, and squeeze water out (100 g).
2. Mix minced beef, Kimchi, tofu, and mung bean sprouts all together, and season with seasoning (460 g).
3. Roll and press dumpling dough into 0.2 cm-thick and 7~8 cm diameter round disk.
4. Put the filling stuffs (23 g) onto the dumpling skin, fold it into half. Pinch the both edges together roundly.
5. Pour the broth into the pot, heat it up for 6 min. on high heat. When it boils, season with clear soy sauce and salt to make dumpling soup. When it boils again, add dumplings, boil it for 4 min. When the dumplings float on the surface of the broth, lower the heat to medium, continue to boil it for another 4 min. Fill the dumpling soup in a bowl, garnish with watercress and egg strips. Serve with vinegar soy sauce.

[Tips]
*Pork may be an another good meat for dumpling filling stuffs.
*Squeeze the dumpling filling stuffs slightly, or it may become too hard.