Seomun Market · Flat Pan-Fried Dumplings
Napjjak Mandu
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It's said to have been invented because there wasn't enough filling to go around — postwar cooks stretched a little glass noodle and chive into as many thin, flat dumplings as possible.
Dumpling skins are filled with just a thin layer of glass noodles and chives, pressed flat, boiled, then pan-fried until the edges crisp, served with a soy-and-chili dipping sauce and raw onion on top. Seomun Market's dumpling stalls have sold this stripped-down Daegu specialty for decades.
Why it's made this way: In the lean years after the Korean War, Daegu vendors are said to have stretched scarce flour and vegetables into thin, flat dumplings that used far less filling than a normal mandu, and the format stuck as a distinctly Daegu specialty found at Seomun Market ever since.
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