Korean Mandu

• 70g kimchi - chopped

• 230g tofu, pressed

• 70g bean sprouts

• 70g sweet potato noodles - soaked

• 2 spring onions

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 thumb sized piece of ginger

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tbsp gochugaru

• 1 tsp sugar

• Salt and pepper

• 1 packet round premade dumplings skins (or homemade)

Finely chop your ginger, garlic and spring onion. Mix those together in a bowl, and crumble the tofu in. Finely chop a generous handful of the Kimchi and add it to the bowl. Now bring a pot of water to the boil and blanch the bean sprouts for 1 minute.Remove, drain, and squeeze out the excess liquid and then finely chop those and add to the bowl. In the same pot, cook the sweet potato noodles according to packet instructions. Drain the noodles and place them in a bowl, then use kitchen scissors to chop them up. Add those to the rest of the ingredients. Now for the classic Korean seasoning; add the sesame oil, soy sauce, gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes), sugar, and a pinch of salt and pepper to the ingredients and give it a good mix. For added flavour add a little bit of Kimchi juice from the jar. 

We are going to fold these dumplings wonton-style. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the centre of each pastry, wet all sides of the pastry with cold water. Fold the bottom corner over the filling to the top corner and press the pastry down to seal all sides (to form a triangle). Holding the base of the filling with your thumbs, pull the 2 corners of the triangle towards each other (in the school we like to call this the 'Dark Knight Rising' as it looks roughly like a Batman shape). Overlap the ends and press together to form a 'gold ingot/ trough shape'. Set aside and fold the rest of the wontons in the same way.

Place your dumplings into a steam basket over boiling water and steam for 7-10 minutes. 

For a tasty dipping sauce mix together some white rice vinegar, soy sauce, Korean red pepper flakes, sesame seeds and sesame oil.