LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. — Lunar New Year approaches on Jan. 22, and dumplings are a popular new year’s food.

What You Need To Know

  •  Lunar New Year is January 22, 2023

  •  Kore Steakhouse offers a Korean dumpling and rice cake soup

  •  Dumpling ingredients are fully cooked, so flour wrappers only need minutes to be ready

Dumpling Filling Recipe

Courtesy of Chef Clark Park, Kore Steakhouse, Lakewood Ranch

Ingredients

  • 130 grams kimchi, chopped and squeezed to remove excess fluid
  • 120 grams tofu, chopped and squeezed to remove excess fluid
  • 170 grams glass noodles, boiled and chopped
  • 150 grams ground pork, marinated and cooked
  • 60 grams garlic chives
  • 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper 

Chef Clark Park might be prepping this dumpling mix solo at Kore, but in his native South Korea, it’s a family affair.

“They sit down and make dumplings together,” Park said.

Chef Park’s dumpling skills are homegrown — all thanks to his mother.

His big tips? Don’t overload them, and they’ve got to look good.

“In Korea,” Chef Park said, “if the dumpling is pretty, you are going to have a beautiful kid. So, everybody that makes dumplings has a lot of pressure with that. But I make a good dumpling, so I have two beautiful daughters.”

The dumplings are enclosed in flour wrappings, and they go into a soup with rice cakes for Lunar New Year.

Now if you need a present for a Lunar New Year party, Andryes Putranto, co-owner of Kore Steakhouse, said to go for a Japanese whiskey.

“Without a doubt, Yamazaki, it’s the best Japanese whiskey right now,” Putranto said.

And finally, to finish off the meal, Chef Park grills highly prized Japanese Wagyu beef. It only takes minutes before it’s ready to eat inside a lettuce wrap.

Happy Lunar New Year!