Feeling thrifty and feeling lazy, my husband and I agreed to have ramyun for Saturday dinner in spite of its definite killing of Saturday’s romantic mood.

Cooking ramyun is extremely simple with very minimum requirements. Yes, water, heat, and ramyun are all you need! Yet, I believe many people are willing to pay a little more attention to it, i.e. adding more vegetables to it. That will make a big difference in nutrients as well as taste.

I usually add some vegetables such as spring onions, Korean peppers, mushrooms and seaweed mix at the end. I sometimes add eggs or mandu (Korean Dumplings) to have bigger servings especially after I exercise. For spicier taste, kimchi is a good add into ramyun, but it itself works perfectly well as a side dish.

Sadly ramyun doesn’t have a lot of nutrients in general while it can taste delicious. A few supplements to cover its ingrained defect is first, to add some vegetables as mentioned earlier and second, not to put the whole sauce powder (from separate sauce packet) because it contains a lot of sodium - we use a little more than half of each sauce powder.

- Non-fried ramyun (An Twigin Myun, The package cover says 345kcal per serving and no MSG.)

The third way for healthier ramyun is to eat non-fried ramyun. As much as I miss fried kind - oh, yummy - I try to buy non-fried kinds these days. I am not in my twenties anymore and have to deal with slow metabolism every day! Easily assumed, non-fried ramyon doesn’t taste as good as fried ramyon. But it is obviously a healthier kind.

When I have non-fried ramyun, I am often consoled by my memories of good and old times when I was still able to devour whatever ramyun I wanted to, not worrying about calorie in-take. What a feast it was to a broke college student having Shin ramyun with a bowl of rice and kimchi! Spicy and yummy!

- Shin Ramyun (Popular Korean Ramen, Sin Ramyon)

Well, after all, this trade-off of non-fried ramyun with lots of vegetables is not that bad! Don’t we always have good reasons of compromise?

The delicious mandu (Korean dumplings) that I had a week ago in Myung Dong Kyoja in Korea Town, Los Angeles triggered me to do more research about it. =)

Mandu, one of the most favored Korean snack dishes, refers to crescent-shape (or less commonly round-shape) food of meat (usually pork) and vegetable mix wrapped with a thin piece of flour dough. Usually, it’s served either fried (usually pan-fry, not deep fry) or steamed. The most similar food in non-Korea culture is Chinese dumpling, jiaozi or baozi.

The name itself originates from Chinese food ‘mantou’, steamed flour buns, but mantou doesn’t have fillings. There is a historical story of the famous Chinese political strategist Zhuge Liang (181–234) of Shu Han and the origin of mantou.

On the way home from a big conquest of southern Chinese area, Zhuge Liang’s army was caught into a severe storm in a river. They were told to sacrifice 40 men and throw their heads into the river. Liang couldn’t kill his own men. He, as admired as one of the smartest people in the old Chinese history, came up with this food, mantou which looked like a human head wrapped with a white cloth, soothed the angry river with it and successfully fooled the river. I respect Zhuge Liang myself, but yes, it’s mythical! But it’s true that mandu (or Chinese baozi) looks like that it holds something(?) inside its wrapping and deliciously it does!

It seemed that mandu became popular among Koreans between 17th or 18th century during Chosun dynasty.

The fillings are usually pork, dubu (tofu) and various vegetables such as onions, mushrooms, spring onions, cabbages, Korean leaks, and garlics. All ingredients are either chopped into tiny pieces or minced.

Sometimes Koreans use beef instead of pork, but rarely use shrimp or other seafood. I think it’s a big difference between Korean mandu and Chinese baozi. Another difference that I noticed is that Koreans mandu feelings are less greasy than Chinese fillings. (This may not always be true.) Of course, when mandu is served pan-fried, it may have more fat overall. But personally, I don’t think one would take too much fat with one serving of pan-fried mandu. When it’s well cooked, fried (pan-fried) mandu is so delicious with a dip of soy sauce!

I would say there are two kinds of vegetarian mandu, kimchi mandu and vegetable mandu. Kimchi itself is vegetable, but I like to differentiate it from regular vegetable mandu because the taste and the look of kimchee mandu are quite different from others. As easily guessed, kimchi mandu has a little bit of sour and spicy taste and it looks a little red because of the color of kimchi. Vegetable mandu has more tofu to replace meat.

Even though it’s a popular Korean snack dish or a light meal, it’s not super simple to make mandu. (At least it’s true to me because I don’t usually cook. =)) But my laziness or shortage of time can’t be excuses. I get frozen mandu from Korean grocery market. There are usually wide varieties to select from. I’ve found frozen mandu usually have a thicker wrapping, which definitely diminishes the taste, but it’s a trade-off!

Now I know what to do when I want to have real good mandu, I would just go to a well-known mandu restaurant such as Myung Dong Kyoja. But not all Korean restaurants have mandu in their menu. It’s popular but it’s not like doenjangjjigae, soy-bean paste stew.

Mandu can be named differently based on cooking style and ingredients.

By cooking style

Gunmandu: Fried mandu (pan-fry, not deep-fry)

Mulmandu (Mool mandu): Literally, it’s water mandu. Usually it refers to JJim mandu (steamed mandu), but one can also boil directly in water.

JJim mandu

Manduguk (Mandu guk): Mandu soup. Generally, vegetables such as spring onions are added in the soup along with eggs.

TTeok Manduguk (TTeok Mandu guk): White rice cake mandu soup. Very popular Korean snack dish. Basically, mandu guk with tteok (white Korean rice cake).

By main ingredients

Mandu: When Koreans say mandu, in most cases they refer to pork mandu.

Sogogi mandu: Beef mandu

Kimchi mandu (Kimchee mandu)

Vegetable mandu

I’ve never made mandu myself, but my sister-in-law is very good at cooking. Someday, I’ll post how to make delicious mandu here after I learn from her!

3630 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 385-7789

After I found out authentic Chinese dumplings are probably not for many Koreans, I was not in the mood to try any dumplings anywhere. But subconsciously I must have wanted to compensate my disappointing experience in Beijing by finding an alternative place nearby in Los Angeles. All of sudden, I suggested this place Myung Dong Kyoja for Saturday lunch to a friend of mine.

Dumplings, most of them made of pork, are not one of my favorites because of my personal eating habit grown from childhood. But often I have vegetable dumplings that can be purchased as frozen from Korean grocery markets. Getting used to cheap frozen dumplings, I don’t have a sophisticated tongue for dumplings.

But I find Myung Dong Kyoja mandu (dumpling) is just delicious! Their steamed pork dumplings have the perfect amount of every ingredient, pork, vegetable, sauce, and oil. The dumplings that I tried in Beijing from a famous restaurant that has been around over two hundred years were too greasy to me. I know that’s just a cultural difference. Koreans are used to less fatty food in general. We boil, stew or simmer rather than fry.

Myung Dong Kyoja dumplings were perfect in that sense. They are not too greasy but not too plain. It has just enough amount of fat so the taste is still abundant and it’s still healthy. Of course this can be very relative depending on people’s taste bud. A small plate for soy sauce is served for each one.

They are also famous for kalguksu (kal guksoo, kal gooksu), one of traditional Korean noodles. Literally, it means knife (kal) noodles (guksoo), indicating it’s hand-cut noodle. My friends and I ordered one serving of mandu (dumplings, 10 of them in one serving) and a bown of kal guksu.

Their kalguksoo is very good, too. The noodles are sticky enough and soft. The chicken broth is
very tasty and the vegetables in it make me think it’s very healthy as well as add delish flavors. There are at least a couple of mandu (dumplings) in kalguksoo.

I’d also like to say that one cannot miss their signature kimchi. It can be spicier and more garlicky for some people but it’s memorably tasty.

Their kong guksu (kongguksu) is another well-known dish. This cold noodle is a famous Korean summer delicacy. Its broth is cold soybean broth with some sesame seeds. Its taste is uniquely delightful and it’s very rich in protein as easily expected.

I love this dish so much, and can’t believe that I didn’t have it this summer! If you’re not familiar with it, I would recommend that you try it first when someone else orders it. I haven’t found many non-Koreans love this dish.

The restaurant is bright and big. It doesn’t have amazing interior but it definitely looks clean and slick. I noticed some of paintings don’t seem to meet people’s general expectation. For example, they have a Gustav Klimt painting instead of traditional Korean paintings. Of course, I don’t have anything against that. It was just a little unique because I expected Korean flavor in their interior.

The staff were kind to us, and generally that’s what I hear from people. They serve bowl of rice for free when asked and you can refill kimchi or noodles for kalgooku.

Myung Dong Kyoja is a very successful franchise in Korea which has been around quite long years. They are mostly famous for their kalgooso, dumplings, and authentic kimchee. Their menu is very simple. Average price for most dish is $8.

Great Dumplings and Kalguksu Place in Korea Town, Los Angeles

(photo from cbs.co.kr)

Insam (ginseng roots, Panax ginseng)
(photo from prkorea.com)

Dates (Daechu)

Until recently, I wasn’t in favor of insam cha (ginseng tea), or any dish that has insam (ginseng) such as samgyetang (Korean chicken ginseng rice soup). I assume it was my natural reaction against my mother’s forceful(?) feeding of insam whenever I visit my parents in Korea.

She boils down ginseng with dates (daechu) in water and have all of my family eat it with honey. I appreciated her intention and efforts especially when ginseng is not cheap for us. But I just hated eating ginseng like that, or in any other possible way. Honey is not enough to make it eatable. The bitter ginseng wasn’t delightful at all and I didn’t like the lose texture of boiled ginseng.

There was no working excuse that could have saved me from my mother’s ginseng feast. My excuse was pretty reasonable, that is, ki (qi in Chinese, 氣, energy flow) of my body, eum ki (cold energy), doesn’t go with ki of ginseng, yang ki (warm energy). Well, that was always ignored. I know why she insisted it so much. She wanted us to get healthier! However annoyed I was, I was still very thankful to her that she would cook it for us.

In Korea, ginseng is typically considered as one of the best nourishing stimulants (or traditional medicine, hanyak). There are many Korean parents, just like my mother, cook ginseng for their children to improve their immune system and make them stronger.

It is believed among Koreans that it would do good to prevent people from catching minor illness just like all other functional food. That’s where my mother was at when insisting it that I should finish my portion (usually three or four roots of insam (ginseng)).

It was only recent that I started to be more open-minded about medical benefits that ginseng may have. Simply, I’ve started to have ginseng without complaints. Insamcha (ginsengtea) is one of easy ginseng food that I can get here in Los Angeles along with samgyetang (Korean chicken ginseng rice soup). I haven’t had samgyetang here yet, but I’ve been waiting for a chance.

When it gets cold starting October, some nights I make insam-saenggang (ginseng-ginger) tea with honey for my husband and myself. (What I mean by ‘making the tea’ here is that I boil water, mix ginseng and ginger tea with perfect amount of honey. =))

I don’t know how much it does to prevents us from catching a cold or other slight ailments which usually comes around this time of the year, but I think that definitely helps immune system. Instead of having a night snack, a warm insam-sanggang cha (ginseng-ginger tea) is a much better choice for us. It’s very soothing at winter nights especially when the pungent taste of ginger is almost neutralized except its refreshing taste.

Koryu Insam (Korean Ginseng Tea)

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It’s generally said that ginseng is good for people who have eum ki (yin qi, cold energy), or people whose hands, feet or boy itself is generally cold because it is yang ki (yang qi, warm energy).