The first time I had Korean BBQ, it was “a moment” in my life. I went to a place in LA’s Koreatown that could best be described as a smoke-filled all-you-can-eat meat fest in some sort of semi-permanent tent structure (alas, that spot is no more). Plate after plate of marinated short rib came to our table in a beautiful parade of flavor. It’s a fantastic memory, and the food is something I’ve learned to somewhat replicate (the atmosphere is not something you could recreate at home, unfortunately). And what I’ve done here is take those flavors, and stick them into a dumpling so you can make that same deliciousness for party food.

Ingredients (makes ~50 dumplings)

Marinated Short Rib

• 3/4 lb trimmed, chopped beef short rib
• 2 T gochujang
• 3 scallions
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 t Sichuan peppercorns
• 1 T chili-garlic paste
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 T minced ginger
• 1/4 c rice vinegar
• 1 t toasted sesame oil
• 1 T oyster sauce
• 2 T mirin
• 2 t salt
• 1 t black pepper

Dumping Stuffing Ingredients

• Marinated short rib
• 2 cups chopped shiitake mushrooms
• 1 chopped shallot
• 1/4 c chopped scallions
• 1 cup chopped kimchi

Dumpling Sauce

• 1 part soy sauce
• 1 part rice vinegar
• 1/2 part toasted sesame oil

Other

• 1 package dumpling/wonton wrappers
• egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 T water)

Directions

• Trim and chop your short rib into a centimeter dice.
• Blend all the marinated short rib ingredients except for the short rib. Don’t blend the short rib.
• Marinate the short rib over night or roughly 8-12 hours.
• Heat a skillet on high
• Pull the meat out of the marinade and strain it.
• Cook the meat for about 4 minutes on high, stirring often
• Let the meat cool
• Once cool, mix the meat with the mushrooms, shallot, scallions, and kimchi
• Lay the wrappers out on parchment
• Drop about 3/4 T of filling on each wrapper
• Brush half the outer edge of the wonton wrappers with egg wash (your finger works for this too)
• Fold the wontons in half (triangle shape) and press the edges
• Take the sealed edge and crimp the edge a few times on each dumpling
• There are 2 ways to cook the dumplings:
  • Steam them for 10-15 minutes
  • Sear in a hot pan for about 5 minutes, fill with water 1/3 of the way up the sides of the dumplings then cover with foil, then reduce heat to medium and cook until water is gone. Don’t flip them at all, you just want them to get a good hard sear on one side.
• Serve with the dipping sauce, and some banchan if you’re feeling industrious.