🥟 New dumpling recipe 🥟
Jew Mandu tastes as good as it sounds!
As we near the end of AANHPI (Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander) month and JAHM (Jewish American Heritage Month), I just had to slide in my recipe for Jew Mandu. My multicultural family and kitchen and these kreplach/dumplings represent our family’s Hawaiian, Korean, and Jewish heritages all in one delicious bite.
A Jew who makes mandu
First line of my Instagram profile. People love the tagline. But what is it and what does it represent about my multicultural kitchen? Let’s start with what Jew Mandu is. Quick context - if mandu and kreplach had a love child, these dumplings would be it!
A few years back I was invited to be the guest chef at a Jew Asian event featuring Bay Area chefs who had a connection to both Jewish and Asian flavors in their kitchen. We were tasked to create a dish that represented that Jewish Asian connection.
I started thinking about dumplings - every culture has one. Koreans have mandu. Jews have kreplach. Often kreplach are made with leftover brisket. I chose a cheaper cut, chuck roast, and braised it using elements of my Korean kalbi marinade - Asian pear for tenderizing, soy sauce and garlic. For the filling, I pulled elements from my husband’s family’s mandu recipe - fresh cabbage and green onions to mix with the meat. For the dipping sauce, the already developed flavor in the meat’s braising sauce was the perfect element. And as the perfect complement to the braising sauce, I used black vinegar which I also use in my traditional mandu dipping sauce.
But I didn’t stop there. The dish needed more color and texture. Korean food is always served with banchan (the “b” is pronounced like a “p”). I created a trio I call Hapa Banchan. Hapa means mixed in Hawaiian and these banchan are very much a mixture of our family heritage. Pickled red onions - common on a Jewish spread for sure but pickles are integral in Hawaiian and Korean cuisine as well. Radish kimchi because well, it’s my husbands favorite. And finally a quick pickled cucumber that reminds me of the simple vinegar cucumbers my mom always made but gets a little lift from rice vinegar instead of white vinegar and a flourish of sesame seeds to finish.
Why are these dumplings my family on a plate?
My family background is Polish and Russian and I was raised on the East coast as an Ashkenazi Jew eating lox, bagels, deli, kugel, brisket and all the “Ashkenormative” foods. My husband is a native Californian whose parents were born in Hawaii and grandparents were from Korea. So we are as at home with spicy kimchi and a poke bowl as we are with matzo ball soup and challah.
And our food loves don’t stagnate in those two silos. We eat like true Californians who can access almost every type of cuisine in restaurants and specialty groceries. We honestly love it all. When we travel, we fit sightseeing in between food stops and always visit the local markets and take food tours to learn about the local cuisine.
If you cook your culture and share it on a plate, what would you be serving me? Leave a comment and tell me what your family foods are.
When is a poke bowl like a bagel brunch?
I created this poke bowl a few years ago for a client who runs a website for Interfaith Jewish families. Two of our family’s favorite food groups in one rice bowl. We love a great lox and bagel sandwich and when in Hawaii, fresh poke bowls with locally caught fish are like heaven for us. So I put them both together in this smoked salmon poke bowl. The flavors are bright and fresh and the bowls are so fun to assemble.
Beth’s favorite sound bites
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Want to cook with me from my Korean Hawaiian recipe book? Join me at Civic Kitchen on July 18th!
Enjoying fresh cherry season? Make a hand pie!
Mystery link: Could be one of my recipes or someone else’s!
Have any questions? I never tire of talking about food so leave a comment below or reply to this email. Happy to help! Have a delicious weekend.
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Oooh I love all these recipes! And you had me smiling all the way through.
Grew up eating multi-cultural in the melting pot of the San Joaquin Valley of central California. Chinese American heritage. Our family tradition is tomato beef curry chow mein. Each person in the extended family has their version of the one cooked by my grandfather who owned a Chinese restaurant in Fresno with his two brothers.