Korean Jjigae Soup Dumplings

When I tried my first soup dumpling at New York's Joe Shanghai in Chinatown, my mind was BLOWN. Like almost everybody who tried these little soup & meat filled dough pockets I thought, "how did they get the soup into the dumpling?!" The secret is actually prety simple, just extremely gelatinous stock, made possible by either copious amounts of bones or a little bit of gelatin/aspic. That's the secret to the lip-smacking deliciousness in these little soup dumplings.

Jjigae is a staple of Korean meals at home – a simple stew made with a handful of ingredients to create a strong, bold flavor that pairs perfectly with a bowl of rice. Kimchi jjigae is a spicy soup featuring kimchi (of course), pork, and tofu and dwenjang jjigae is an earthy stew with zucchini, shiitake mushrooms, tofu, and fermented soybean. 

Kneading fresh dough for soup dumpling wrappers

Kneading fresh dough for soup dumpling wrappers

MEAT JELLO! Kimchi Jjigae soup filling for dumplings

MEAT JELLO! Kimchi Jjigae soup filling for dumplings

Takes a lot of hands to make a lot of dumplings

Takes a lot of hands to make a lot of dumplings

Rice & Banchan: kimchi, sesame spinach, Asian chive pancake

Rice & Banchan: kimchi, sesame spinach, Asian chive pancake

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Kimchi Jjigae Soup Dumplings

kimchi & pork broth; kimchi, pork, tofu, scallion filling

Dwenjang Jjigae Soup Dumplings

anchovy, shiitake, dwenjang broth; shiitake, dwenjang, tofu, zucchini, onion, mushroom, Korean pepper filling

Rice & Banchan

Cabbage Kimchi, Sesame Spinach, Asian Chive Pancake