Mandu (dumpling)
Encyclopedia
Mandu are dumplings in Korean cuisine. They are similar to pelmeni
and pierogi
in some Slavic
cultures. The name is a cognate to the names of similar types of meat-filled dumplings in Central Asia, such as Turkish manti, Kazakh manty, and Uzbek manti.
In Korean cuisine, mandu generally denotes a type of filled dumpling
s similar to the Mongolian buuz
and Turkish mantı
, and some variations are similar to the Chinese jiaozi
and the Japanese gyoza. If the dumplings are grilled or fried, they are called gunmandu (군만두); when steamed jjinmandu (찐만두); and when boiled, mulmandu (물만두). Mandu are usually served with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce and vinegar.
, which discouraged consumption of meat. Mongolian incursion into Goryeo relaxed the religious prohibition against consuming meat, and mandu was among the newly imported dishes that included meat.
Another possibility is mandu came to Korea at a much earlier period from the Middle East
through the Silk Road
. Historians point out many cuisines based on wheat, such as dumplings and noodles originated from Mesopotamia
and gradually spread from there. It also spread east along the Silk Road, leaving many versions of mandu throughout Central and East Asia.
is a variety of Korean soup (guk
) made with mandu in beef broth. In the Korean royal court, the dish was called byeongsi while in Eumsik dimibang
, a 17th century cookbook, it was called "seokryutang" (석류탕).
, the protagonist Oh Dae-Su
is fed a steady diet of fried mandu, the food that he hates the most, while he is imprisoned. After he is released, he visits various restaurants serving the dish to get clues and determine where he was held captive.
Wonder Girls
's member, Ahn Sohee, is often referred to as Mandu due to her cheeks resembling the shape of mandu.
Pelmeni
Pelmeni are dumplings consisting of a filling wrapped in thin, unleavened dough that originated in Siberia and is a dish of Russian cuisine. Pelmeni are common in Russia and have similar names in other languages: , pyal’meni; pilmän; , pel’meni; ; .- Ingredients :The dough is made from flour and...
and pierogi
Pierogi
Pierogi are dumplings of unleavened dough - first boiled, then they are baked or fried usually in butter with onions - traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit...
in some Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
cultures. The name is a cognate to the names of similar types of meat-filled dumplings in Central Asia, such as Turkish manti, Kazakh manty, and Uzbek manti.
In Korean cuisine, mandu generally denotes a type of filled dumpling
Dumpling
Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. They may have a filling, or there may be other ingredients mixed into the dough. Dumplings may...
s similar to the Mongolian buuz
Buuz
Buuz are a type of Mongolian steamed dumpling filled with minced mutton, or beef meat. The meat is flavoured with onion or garlic and salted. Occasionally, they are flavoured with sprouted fennel seeds and other seasonal herbs...
and Turkish mantı
Manti
Mantu are a type of dumpling in Turkish and various Central Asian and Northwest China and Caucasian cuisines, closely related to the east Asian mantou, baozi, and mandu and the Nepali momo. Manti dumplings archetypically consist of a spiced meat mixture, usually lamb or ground beef, in a dough...
, and some variations are similar to the Chinese jiaozi
Jiaozi
Jiǎozi 餃子 or 饺子 , bánh bột luộc , gyōza , Mo:Mo: or Momocha म:म: or ममचा , or pot sticker is a Chinese dumpling widely spread to Japan, Eastern and Western Asia.Jiaozi typically consist of a ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into...
and the Japanese gyoza. If the dumplings are grilled or fried, they are called gunmandu (군만두); when steamed jjinmandu (찐만두); and when boiled, mulmandu (물만두). Mandu are usually served with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce and vinegar.
History
Mandu are believed to have been first brought to Korea by Mongolians in the 14th century during the Goryeo Dynasty. The state religion of Goryeo was BuddhismBuddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, which discouraged consumption of meat. Mongolian incursion into Goryeo relaxed the religious prohibition against consuming meat, and mandu was among the newly imported dishes that included meat.
Another possibility is mandu came to Korea at a much earlier period from the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
through the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
. Historians point out many cuisines based on wheat, such as dumplings and noodles originated from Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
and gradually spread from there. It also spread east along the Silk Road, leaving many versions of mandu throughout Central and East Asia.
Varieties
- Mulmandu, the word itself means "water mandu" since it is boiled.
- Gunmandu is pan-fried mandu, it's derived from (gu-oon)-mandu 구운만두=>군만두 to mean "panned" dumplings it's sometimes called by its Japanese name, yakimandu.
- Jjinmandu is steamed, either in a traditional bamboo steamer or modern versions.
- Gullin mandu (굴린만두), or called gulmandu is a variety of mandu in a ball shape without a covering. It is mainly eaten in summer.
- Pyeonsu (편수), mandu stuffed with vegetables in a rectangular shape. It is mainly eaten in summer and a local specialty of KaesongKaesongKaesŏng is a city in North Hwanghae Province, southern North Korea , a former Directly Governed City, and the capital of Korea during the Koryo Dynasty. The city is near Kaesŏng Industrial Region and it contains the remains of the Manwoldae palace. It was formally named Songdo while it was the...
, North KoreaNorth KoreaThe Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
. - EomanduEomanduEomandu or eo mandu is a fish dumpling in Korean royal court cuisine. This variety of mandu is made with a strip of thinly sliced fish wrapped around minced beef, vegetables, and spices....
, mandu wrapped with sliced fishFishFish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
filletFillet (cut)A fillet is a cut or slice of boneless meat or fish.- Meat :In the case of beef, in the USA, the term most often refers to beef tenderloin, especially filet mignon.- Chicken :...
. It was originally eaten in Korean royal court and yangbanYangbanThe yangban were part of the traditional ruling class or nobles of dynastic Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. The yangban were either landed or unlanded aristocracy who comprised the Korean Confucian idea of a "scholarly official." In reality, they were basically administrators and bureaucrats who...
(noble class) families. - Saengchi mandu (생치만두), mandu stuffed with pheasant meat, beef, and tofu, that was eaten in Korean royal court and in the Seoul area during winter.
- Seognyu mandu (석류만두), literally "pomegranatePomegranateThe pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
dumpling" because of the shape - Somandu (소만두), mandu stuffed with only vegetables, that was originally eaten in Buddhist temples.
- Gyuasang (규아상), mandu stuffed with shredded cucumber and minced beef in the shape of sea cucumberSea cucumber (food)Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea used in fresh or dried form in various cuisines.The creature and the food product is commonly known as bêche-de-mer in French, trepang in Indonesian, namako in Japanese and in the Philippines it is called balatan...
. It is mainly eaten in summer. - Kimchi mandu, the stuffing contains kimchi. The addition of kimchi gives it a spicier taste compared to other mandu.
Dishes made with mandu
MandugukManduguk
-History:According to the 14th century records of Goryeosa , mandu had already been introduced via Central Asia during the Goryeo era. Mandu was called sanghwa or gyoja until the mid-Joseon Dynasty and became a local specialty of the Pyongan and Hamgyong regions, as both wheat and buckwheat - the...
is a variety of Korean soup (guk
Guk
Guk , also sometimes known as Tang , is a class of soup-like dishes in Korean cuisine. Guk and tang are commonly grouped together and regarded as the same type of dish, although guk is more watery and a basic dish for the Korean table setting, and is usually eaten at home...
) made with mandu in beef broth. In the Korean royal court, the dish was called byeongsi while in Eumsik dimibang
Eumsik dimibang
The Eumsik dimibang or Gyugon siuibang is a Korean cookbook written around 1670 by Lady Jang from Andong Clan, Gyeongsang Province during the Joseon Dynasty. The author was in the noble yangban class and the book is a manuscript written in hangul...
, a 17th century cookbook, it was called "seokryutang" (석류탕).
In popular culture
In the film OldboyOldboy
Oldboy is a 2003 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook. It is based on the Japanese manga of the same name written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya. Oldboy is the second installment of The Vengeance Trilogy, preceded by Sympathy for Mr...
, the protagonist Oh Dae-Su
Oh Dae-su
Oh Dae-su is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 2003 South Korean film Oldboy, played by Choi Min-sik. Choi won a number of awards for his portrayal of Oh, including the 2004 Grand Bell Award and Asia Pacific Film Festival Award for Best Actor...
is fed a steady diet of fried mandu, the food that he hates the most, while he is imprisoned. After he is released, he visits various restaurants serving the dish to get clues and determine where he was held captive.
Wonder Girls
Wonder Girls
Wonder Girls is a South Korean girl group. Its producer and manager is singer-songwriter Park Jin-Young and the Wonder Girls is signed to his talent agency, JYP Entertainment. Each of the five original members were selected through auditions...
's member, Ahn Sohee, is often referred to as Mandu due to her cheeks resembling the shape of mandu.
See also
- Dumplings
- BuuzBuuzBuuz are a type of Mongolian steamed dumpling filled with minced mutton, or beef meat. The meat is flavoured with onion or garlic and salted. Occasionally, they are flavoured with sprouted fennel seeds and other seasonal herbs...
- JiaoziJiaoziJiǎozi 餃子 or 饺子 , bánh bột luộc , gyōza , Mo:Mo: or Momocha म:म: or ममचा , or pot sticker is a Chinese dumpling widely spread to Japan, Eastern and Western Asia.Jiaozi typically consist of a ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into...
- MandugwaMandugwaMandugwa is a variety of hangwa traditional Korean confectionery, consisting of a fried dumpling stuffed with a sweetened filling and coated with jocheong, or liquid candy. Its dough is prepared kneaded with wheat flour, honey, and sesame oil. The filling is made with filtered steamed jujubes mixed...
- Gyoza
- MantıMantiMantu are a type of dumpling in Turkish and various Central Asian and Northwest China and Caucasian cuisines, closely related to the east Asian mantou, baozi, and mandu and the Nepali momo. Manti dumplings archetypically consist of a spiced meat mixture, usually lamb or ground beef, in a dough...
- PierogiPierogiPierogi are dumplings of unleavened dough - first boiled, then they are baked or fried usually in butter with onions - traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit...
External links
- Golden Mandu (Korean Dumplings) (Kate's Global Kitchen, by Kate HeyhoeKate HeyhoeKatherine Evelyn Heyhoe is an American editor and food writer.- Biography :Heyhoe was born in Los Angeles, California. She is a graduate of the University of Texas, where she received her Master's Degree from the Department of Radio-Television-Film.She has been a member of the International...
) - Traditional Mandu Recipe, Korean-Cooking.com