Pyeonsu

Pyeonsu is a square-shaped mandu, or dumpling, of Korean cuisine. It is typically a summer food, served chilled and dipped in a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar, and the city of Gaeseong is especially famous for it. The skin is made from wheat flour dough mixed with boiling water, rolled thin and cut into squares. Common fillings include meat such as beef, pork, chicken or pheasant, along with tofu, mung bean sprouts, mushrooms, oyster and a couple of whole pine nuts, seasoned with salt, pepper, sesame, sesame oil and minced scallions, ginger and garlic. The dumplings are boiled in a beef and soy sauce based broth, chilled, and served as they are or in cold chicken broth; sometimes they are served warm as pyeonsu-guk, a dumpling soup. During the Joseon era wheat was abundant in Gaeseong, so its dumplings were made with wheat flour, with simple tofu and bean sprout stuffings in poorer households and beef and fresh oyster in wealthier ones. Unlike other dumplings, pyeonsu remains a regional specialty.