Kimchi Mandu (Korean Kimchi Dumplings)

Mandu are simply Korean Dumplings. It is quite similar to chinese dumplings(饺子jiaozi) and japanese gyoza. Also, kimchi is a very popular food ingredient in Korean cuisine. Indeed, kimchi is present in almost every korean meal. It is made up of vegetables with seasonings. Vegetables usually include napa cabbage, radish, green onions or cucumber. I love kimchi! It has this sweet/sour taste, but the thing I love most about kimchi is its hot/spicy taste! Kimchi is such a versatile ingredient. You can make fried rice with it, soups and in this recipe, we will be using it as filling to our korean dumplings! You can buy kimchi in your Asian grocery store, although homemade one is always the best(if only I knew how to make kimchi, I would be having big boxes of them in the fridge!). Manduz are delicious and they are quite easy to wrap. I include a wrapping method for the dumplings in this post. I will be soon posting a recipe for how to make the dumplings dough, so keep tuned!
Note:
Get your kimchi dry! After chopping my kimchi, I squeeze the water out using a muslin cloth. I like to keep the water for future soups =D.

Kimchi Mandu (Korean Kimchi Dumplings) recipe

Ingredients:
400g kimchi, thinly chopped
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
500g round dumpling wrappers (about 50-60)

Steps:
1. Place your chopped kimchi in a muslin/cheese cloth. If you want to keep the water, then squeeze the kimchi above a bowl. Squeeze as much as you can to remove the maximum amount of liquid.
2. Combine chopped kimchi, sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds together in a bowl. Mix well with a spoon.
3. Wrap the dumplings:
(a) Place one dumpling wrapper in the palm of your hand. (I put it on the table so as to be able to take the picture)
(b) Put one teaspoon of filling in the middle.

(c) Dip your finger in some water and wet the edges of the wrapper.
(d) Fold the dumpling wrapper into a semi-circle and pinch (using thumb and index finger) around the filling as shown below. The “pinching” around the filling is very important if you want to get a nice “shell-like” shape.

(e) Wet one end of the dumpling wrapper and bring that end to the other end, sticking them together. The dumpling should be held such that the filling is facing top(see picture for a clearer idea). See how the dumpling gets into a nice “shell-like” shape?

(f) Place it on a tray and proceed with the other dumpling wrappers.

4. If you want to keep the dumplings for future use, then place the tray in the freezer for about 30minutes to 1 hour. When the manduz are hard, you can now put them in sealed plastic bags and keep in fridge for later cooking.
5. Cooking the manduz: You can pan-fry them or steam them or simply boil them. I boiled them in this recipe.
(a) Bring water to a boil.
(b) Add your manduz and cook over medium heat until manduz float to the top. At this point, you can remove them  using a slotted spoon.
6. Done!