If Yan can cook, so can you!

Anyone remember that show!! It used to be my favorite! Anyway, tonight I made Yakimandu using the recipe a Korean friend of mine had given me. She actually froze the filling she had made for us to use at Zoey's party, so we didn't have to make it. It was yummy! But I wanted to master it on my own, so I gave it a shot , and I must say, the Korean in me came out tonight! I had several requests to post the recipe, so without further ado, here we go!

I used the grating blade on my food processor to julienne two medium zucchini, 3 small carrots and about half a head of Napa cabbage. Cut everything into about 1 inch chunks to process. Let that mixture drain in a colander while you make the remainder of the filling. This step is really important as you want the filling to be really dry. Meanwhile, brown a pound of lean ground beef making sure the pieces are small and there's no big clumps of meat. Drain well. Boil about 3 quarts of water and cook about half a package of rice noodles. I used a really thin vermicelli Korean noodle from our local market. Drain well. Then using kitchen shears, cut the noodles into about 1/2 inch pieces. If possible, squeeze veggie mixture through cheesecloth. I just used paper towels. Add it to a large bowl and then add ground beef and noodles. Salt and pepper to taste (I would say about a 2 teaspoons each, but this is really up to you) and then add about a 2 teaspoons of garlic powder. Mix well and then taste. Add whatever you see fit! Here's what mine looked like when all together!

And then, all you'll need to assemble is the Won Ton wrappers (available at any grocery store, mine are from the Korean market though), a spoon, and a small bowl of water.

Wet your fingertips and run it along outer edge of Won Ton wrapper. Spoon a teaspoon full of mixture into the center of wrapper making sure it's not overloaded.

Fold wrapper in half and seal edges together, then you can pinch and tuck to make a decorative design.

Heat canola oil in a Wok to about 350-375 degrees and drop mandu in one by one! I like to use chopsticks to turn them over to cook evenly and they are in the oil just till they brown, a few minutes each.

Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil and you can serve with Yakimandu sauce which is just equals parts soy sauce and rice vinegar with about a teaspoon of sugar to every cup of sauce. Then....ENJOY!!

This recipe makes about 100 plus mandu, so make what you wish and then you can freeze the rest of the filling in tupperware and defrost mixture in a paper towel lined colander to drain. The Won Ton wrappers can be frozen as well.