My Mother, Ouk Lee Kim’s Korean Dumplings.

6 min readMar 4, 2024

I share this recipe for my nieces, nephews and my colleagues in the photojournalism community.

My late mother, Ouk Lee Kim’s (1933–2010) Korean ground beef dumplings; she was an amazing cook of Korean food. These dumplings are a family heirloom. This is the first time this recipe is shared with anyone.

Like my photography, I always took great pride in making these dumplings and I fed college roommates and photo-posse colleagues alike with these family delicacies.

Family dinner 1973 when my grandmother came to visit us in NY from South Korea. Right, my mother with my late brother Albert about 1967 in NYC harbor going to see the Statue of Liberty.

Making these dumplings is a labor of love and passion; it’s time consuming but worth it. Like a great many recipes, I am told, it is passed on in my family with no written recipe card but made purely from memory.

My niece Elena is getting married and for her bridal shower I was asked to bring a recipe. So it was time I go public with this recipe and commit it to paper from my memory.

Yup! My mother made the cover of NPPA’s News Photographer magazine. Photo by Ken Lambert.

My mom was a woman ahead of her time with an rewarding career in medicine when women of her generation, from her native country often didn’t have a career, much less one in STEM.

Standing at a petit 4’11" , she was a force to be reckoned with: strong, spunky, self sufficient, penny-wise yet with a huge heart. She came to the United States in the early 1960’s from her native South Korea. As a single mother with three kids, she embodied the pursuit of the American Dream and instilled a work ethic her children have internalized (along with some killer recipes!) to this day. I wrote about my family here

Enjoy!

This recipe makes 44 dumplings, one package of skins. Cooked dumplings also taste great after it’s been refrigerated overnight as seasonings blend.

Dumpling Stuffing:

- Ground beef 1 lb, 85% lean is better, 95% lean beef I find is too dry.(Vegetarian substitute see below)

-Bean sprouts, two cups, loosely chopped but not too much, it makes dumplings a bit crunchy.

-One medium onion, finely chopped.

-Green scallions, 3 or 4 stems finely chopped, 1 cup.

-Garlic, 5 or 6 cloves of finely chopped garlic, about ¼ cup.

-Ginger, ¼ cup finely chopped.

-Salt, 1 teaspoon

-Pepper, 1 teaspoon.

-Optional, 1/2 cup of Coriander.

- 3 Eggs: two eggs separate the yolk from the white. Set aside. one egg and half of egg white, you will add to the stuffing mix. Eggs keeps the stuffing mix together.

-THIN dumpling Chinese wonton skin you can eat at an Asian grocery store (see pictures below)

Stuffing Mix:

In a large bowl add, ground beef, bean sprouts, onion, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, scallions. Add one whole egg, and one egg white (or half)

Using your hand, mix it in thoroughly (can put it in the refrigerator as you prep the skins)

Thin skins can be found in any Asian grocery. In NYC some bodegas sell them too.

Egg Yolk on Dumpling Skins:

On a cutting board or large plate, stack skins (picture below) leaving ¼ inch on top and fanning it down until you have a column. Brush egg yolk on top ¼ exposed area. I like to do two columns at a time to let the egg yolk dry a bit, it glues better, as you make the dumplings. *For vegan, substitute with room temperature water as you go on each dumpling, but below method with egg yolk is a better sealer.

The art of egg yolk used to seal the dumplings.

Making the dumpling:

Take one skin, put it on your hand, place about a tablespoon of ground beef stuffing mix (I always make sure some bean sprouts are included) in the center, fold two sides so the yolked edges and pinch the edges to securely seal it.

If you are making a large batch, sprinkle some flour on a baking sheet, before placing dumplings. I put the baking sheet in the refrigerator as I make the dumplings. Place plastic wrap loosely over the top to protect the dumpling skins from drying too much but not too tight so it sweats.

Cooking is the key!

Step 1: In a large fry pan, heat two to three tablespoons of olive oil (or vegetable oil) and put a few dumplings in the pan sparsely, and brown both sides on high heat. About a minute on each side.

Step 2: Turn heat down to medium, add some cold water, about ¼ cup of cold water to the pan and put a cover on it. This cools the cooking process, and to soften the dumpling skin but continue to cook inside. Let it cook further for about two minutes on each side. I normally check the first dumpling by cutting it to see if the inside is cooked. These two steps are the key to my mother’s dumplings. It’s too not crispy fried but semi crispy soft dumplings.

Spread a paper towel on a large plate and place the dumpling as you cook. Towel absorbs excess grease. Same process with the rest of the dumplings.

Dumpling Sauce:

Add about ¼ cup of soy sauce in a small bowl, ¼ cup of vinegar, ¼ cold water, one tablespoon sesame oil or to taste. Using a teaspoon, add a glob of Korean hot paste gochujang to taste. (or my niece Elena’s hot sauce, or any hot sauce). Optional: add some chopped green scallions and sesame seeds too.

Vegetable dumpling, substitute stuffing:

This is not my mother’s recipe but I improvised for vegetarians.

-1 lb of firm tofu (let it sit on a power towel for 5min to let the towel absorb excess water). Then pull it apart with your fingers so its loose. If you don’t like tofu, try using shredded cabbage.

- 2 cups of Italian Kale, chop loosely.

-2 Bean sprouts, two cups, loosely chopped but not too much…makes dumplings a bit crunchy.

-One medium onion, finely chopped.

-Green Scallions, 3 or 4 stems finely chopped, 1 cup.

-Garlic, 5 or 6 cloves of finely chopped garlic, about ¼ cup.

-Ginger ¼ cup finely chopped.

-Salt, 1 teaspoon

-Pepper, 1 teaspoon.

-Coriander optional, 1/2 cup.

Lightly saute onion and kale first in a frying pan (mostly to soften the kale). Then add tofu, crumble it with your hands as you mix it, add rest of the ingredients, and pick up the instructions from “Egg Yolk on Dumpling Skins” above.