Happy New Year!! Hope all of you had a great time with your family during this holiday season.
When Koreans talk about New Year’s dishes, tteokguk (rice cake soup) is a must-eat dish. It’s common to add mandu (Korean stuffed dumplings), in which case the soup is called tteok-manduguk. However, in the north (now North Korea), manduguk (or mandu guk), which is made only with dumplings, is a New Year tradition.
Because the climate and land are not suitable to grow rice, this variation without rice cake slices is favored in the north. Manduguk is the soup my husband grew up eating because his parents are originally from the north (prior to the division of Korea). They were among the millions who were separated from their families as they fled to the south during the Korean war (1950 – 1953).
Mandu is hugely popular in my husband’s family, and my husband can literally eat mandu everyday without getting tired of them. Like tteokguk, this soup is traditionally made with beef broth. Here, I made it with anchovy broth.
You can make this soup with any variation of Korean dumplings, including pre-made store-bought ones. I like to use kimchi mandu recipe. Sometimes, I replace kimchi with napa cabbage and Asian chives. Also, see my classic mandu. Make some dumplings and keep them in the freezer. They will come in handy when you want to make some warming, comforting soup.
This mild soup with dumplings is a comfort food at its best!
Ingredients
- 16 - 20 pieces mandu (dumplings) - See note
Anchovy Broth:
- 1 cup dried anchovies
- dried kelp 3 4-inch square pieces
- 1/2 onion
- 4 – 5 cloves of garlic
- 2 scallion white parts
- 1 tablespoon soup soy sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish (optional):
- 1 egg
- 1 scallion green part
Instructions
- In a large pot, add 10 cups of water and all the broth ingredients. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and boil for 10 minutes.
- To make the egg garnish (jidan),* separate the egg and gently whisk each part. Heat a lightly oiled small nonstick skillet over medium heat and pour each egg part into a thin layer, tilting the skillet (similar to making crepe). Cook each side until no visible egg liquid remains. (Do not brown the egg.) Slice into 1 1/2-inch long thin strips or 1-inch diamond shapes. Set aside.
- Slice the scallion into thin strips.
- Return the broth to a boil over medium high heat and stir in soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Add the mandu, stirring gently so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Boil until all of them float, and reduce the heat to medium and simmer for additional 2 or 3 minutes.
- Ladle the steaming soup into bowls and garnish with the sliced egg and scallion.
