Mandu-gwa are the sweet version of Mandu, Korean dumplings, fried in oil.
They feature a dough made of flour mixed with honey, cinnamon, and ginger, and are filled with jujubes.
Mandu-gwa were also the theme of the ViaggiandoMangiando on air event on June 6, 2022, find the video of the broadcast HERE.
During the broadcast, I prepared them with buckwheat flour, for a gluten-free version, which is why they look so dark.
Mandu are the stars of Mandu-guk (만둣국), a variety of Korean soup (guk), especially popular during New Year, prepared by boiling mandu in a broth of dried anchovies mixed with beaten egg.
Mandu guk are a type of Korean hangwa, traditional Korean sweets, and belong to the category Yumil-gwa, which is a fried sweet made of wheat flour dough.
Other Korean hangwa that you can find on the blog:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Korean
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups buckwheat flour
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 1/3 tbsps rice wine
- to taste sesame oil
- to taste seed oil (for frying)
- to taste ginger juice
- 1/4 cup jujubes
- to taste cinnamon powder
- to taste honey
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons corn syrup
Steps
For the filling: remove the seeds from the jujubes, blend them in a mixer and mix with honey and cinnamon powder.
For the dough: combine the flour with sesame oil, honey, ginger juice, and rice wine.
Knead and create flattened circles.
Add the jujubes to the dough, shape them into a half-moon bundle, and twist the top
Fry in plenty of oil.
Prepare the syrup: bring water and sugar to a boil in a pot and, when it has reduced by half, add the corn syrup, turn off the heat and stir.
Soak the mandu-gwa in the warm syrup.
