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1
Make the wrapper dough. Combine the flour, salt, and warm water and knead until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky, then wrap and rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, so the gluten relaxes and the dough rolls to an even sheet without fighting back. The dough is ready when it yields to a thumb press without springing back sharply.
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2
Prepare the filling. Press the tofu under weight for 15 minutes, then squeeze it in a clean cloth until no moisture runs free; do the same for the kimchi separately, because any liquid left in either will pool inside the wrapper and burst the mandu the moment they hit boiling water. Combine the pork, tofu, kimchi (Gyeonggi style) or omit it (Kaesong style), and garlic chives, and mix thoroughly until the filling feels compact and dry in the hand — this is where the dish lives or dies.
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3
Roll and cut the wrappers. Divide the dough into manageable portions and roll each to 1.5 mm thickness on a lightly floured surface, working from the centre outward so the sheet stays even rather than thicker at the edges. Cut into rounds of approximately 9 cm diameter; wrappers must be thin enough to show a faint shadow of filling through them once filled, but thick enough to resist tearing when pleated.
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4
Fill and fold. Place filling at the centre of each wrapper, filling to no more than 60 % of its capacity so there is enough border to pleat without the filling pressing into the seal and breaking it. Fold into the chosen shape — half-moon (반달), pleated crescent (조각), or round-purse (둥근) — and work 6 to 8 firm pleats along the edge, pressing each pleat between thumb and forefinger until it feels rigid, with no soft or unjoined sections, because a simple fold-and-press without pleating will come unsealed in boiling broth.
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5
Cook the mandu separately in a large pot of salted water brought to a rolling boil, adding them in batches so the water temperature does not drop and leave the wrappers gummy, then remove them with a slotted spoon when they float to the surface and the wrapper at the pleat is translucent with no white floury patches remaining. Cooking in the serving broth rather than plain water would release starch and filling oils that cloud the broth irreversibly, so this separate cook is what keeps the soup clear.
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6
Bring the clear broth to a simmer, add the cooked mandu, and warm through for one to two minutes — long enough to heat them through without continuing to cook the wrappers past the point where they begin to soften and split. The broth must remain clear; any milkiness is a sign that either the filling was not pressed dry or the mandu were cooked in the broth rather than separately.