How Far Can You Take Frozen Dumplings? No Fire or Pot Required

I was writing about ppoggeuri yesterday and it got me thinking about other food from back then. So here's another one.

In the military, there's a lot you want to eat, and the setup just never cooperates. Still, everyone tried to make things feel a little less bare, so whenever there was some kind of get-together, frozen food always showed up. Dumplings especially — those came up a lot.

Here's the thing though: wanting them and actually being able to cook them are two different problems. No pot, no fire you're allowed to use whenever you want. Eating them frozen wasn't really an option either. But there was a way.

How to Cook Frozen Dumplings Without a Pot or Steamer

You buy a bag of frozen mandu, and instead of opening it from the top like normal, you cut a small slit into the front of the bag — right into the body of it, not the seal. Through that opening, pour in a small splash of water — just enough to pool at the bottom of the bag, not fill it up. Less than half a paper cup is roughly the right amount. Too much and you end up boiling the dumplings instead of steaming them. Then the whole bag goes into the microwave, still sealed, for about 5 minutes.

Same logic as ppoggeuri, really. No plate, no steamer — the bag just becomes the cooking vessel. The water heats up inside, turns to steam, and the steam does the actual steaming, right there in the bag.

It works better than you'd expect, honestly. One thing though — the skin on the outside can end up a little tough if you're not careful. So here's the trick: after you pour the water in, give the bag a shake so it actually gets the dumplings wet on all sides. Skip that step and only the side touching the water turns out soft, the rest stays stiff. Also, the bag gets pretty hot by the 5-minute mark, so watch your hands pulling it out.

This Is Usually When We Ate It

Once the day's schedule was done and everyone had some free time in the evening, people would each grab a bag of something frozen and end up in the same spot. Dumplings, sausages, cheese, whatever — spread out on the floor or on top of a wall locker, sharing it around, talking about whatever happened that day. Nothing special about the evening itself, but that was the one stretch of time everyone's face actually relaxed a bit.

Next time another one of those foods comes back to me, I'll write a few more lines about it.