Slow-cooked beef dumpling broth with dadegi (Korean chilli sauce)

Slow-cooked beef dumpling broth with dadegi (Korean chilli sauce)

Mandu-guk is a comforting Korean dumpling soup ('mandu' is the Korean word for dumpling). This recipe from Joo Won offers a twist on the classic dish, creating an intensely beefy broth using oxtail and short rib.
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Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Step 1

    Place the oxtail and short rib into a large pan and top up with water. Slowly bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes to bring out any impurities. Strain the meat and place it back into the pan, cover with fresh cold water and add the salt and peppercorns. Bring back to the boil then turn down and gently simmer for 1 hour
  2. Step 2

    After this time, skim any fat that has risen to the top and add a little more water if it has reduced below the surface of the meat. Add the rest of the ingredients for the broth whole and leave to simmer for a further 2 hours, or until the meat is easily falling away from the bones
  3. Step 3

    Strain the broth through a fine sieve into a clean pan (reserving the solids) and continue to simmer and reduce until you have a deeply beefy broth. Ensure you don’t reduce the liquid down too much as you will need enough to fill 4 serving bowls
  4. Step 4

    While the broth reduces, pick the meat from the bones and reserve some larger chunks for garnish. Chop down the rest of the meat a little bit so it’s not too big to fit inside the dumplings. Discard the peppercorns and cut up and reserve some wedges of mooli for garnish. Finely dice the remaining mooli along with the rest of the vegetables
  5. Step 5

    Place the chopped vegetables and beef into a bowl and season with the soy sauce and doenjang – always be careful with how much doenjang you add as it can be very salty, so taste as you go
  6. Step 6

    To assemble the dumplings, lay out the wrappers and add a heaped teaspoon (around 15-20g) of the filling into the centre of each one. Paint a little water around the edges using your finger, then fold the wrapper over and crimp the top to create a concertina effect. You should be able to make 16 dumplings in total. Set aside
  7. Step 7

    The dadegi is a Korean chilli paste mix used to enrich and add spice to soups. Simply mix the ingredients together and set aside
  8. Step 8

    When ready to serve, add the reserved mooli wedges, reserved beef, cooked pearl barley and sliced mushrooms to the broth and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the dumplings and simmer for around 1.5 minutes, then divide equally between four bowls
  9. Step 9

    Garnish each bowl with a spoonful of the dadegi, a drizzle of sesame oil, a sprinkle of spring onions and some gamtae (if using)