Steamed Dumplings At Manna: Mandu To Almost Fill The Void Of The Late Honey Pig Dumplings

Steamed mandu from Manna in the Lotte food court

For those in search of steamed dumplings after the closing of Honey Pig Dumpling last year, the time has come to slake your hunger on Manna.

That's Manna's mandu -- $9 for a six-dumpling order -- in the photo above.  It's one of the stands in the food court next to Lotte in Ellicott City.

We got the pork variety, and they're a tasty snack.  A bit less filling and a bit more dough pressed together at the top than the Honey Pig variety on sale briefly at the new Lotte in Catonsville.  But they're a welcome find because we had loved the steamed mandu as a party food.  They re-heat beautifully in a steamer.

The Lotte food court has a series of restaurants, each with a pretty large menu.  Does anyone have specific recommendations?  I have looked a few times, but I don't know what you suggest.

Manna 
(in the back of the Lotte food court)
8801 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21043
410-480-5050

NEAR:  The Lotte in the Golden Triangle shopping center has a connected food court.  This is the shopping center on Rte 40 just east of Rte 29.  Manna is the stand all the way in the back.  They have a menu in signs above the register, including several ramen varieties.

Great Takeout Salad: The Seasonal Hwae Dup Bop You Can Carry Out From Catonsville Lotte

Hwae dup bop from Rainbow Sushi inside the Catonsville Lotte

We have a new option for easy, healthy takeout now that we have learned about hwae dup bop carryout at the new Lotte in Catonsville.

This is a salad of shredded lettuce and vegetables served with sliced sashimi-style fish, rice and a spicy sauce.  We ate it at Yetnal House last month, but we enjoyed it again last night when the Cordis Couple invited us over for impromptu dinner.

It's super easy dinner in minutes.  You get a takeout container packed with shredded lettuce, carrots, cucumber and other vegetables along with bite-sized slices of tuna and other fish.  You also get a package of cooked rice and a dollop of spicy red pepper sauce.  Mix to taste with a dash of sesame oil, and we ate beautifully.

Pre-stirring

The Cordis couple buy the "sashimi salad" at the Rainbow Sushi stand in the back right corner of the new Lotte in Catonsville.  Order.  Then shop for 10 minutes while the sushi chefs slice the fish for you.

The package serves three adults, they said.  With a little more cooked rice, they mixed up a bowl that served four us comfortably.  That's a deal at about $11.

Apparently, Rainbow Sushi only sells hwae dup bop in the summer and fall.  So go try now.  I thought the ingredients were delicious.  Crisp vegetables.  Tasty fish.  They stirred until everything mixed, and the sesame oil made a light dressing with the spicy sauce and some of that orange roe.

Honestly, I enjoyed this as much or more than the Yetnal House version.  I don't think we mixed our first hwae dup bop well, and the shredded vegetables made it easier to ensure that everything was coated with dressing and that every mouthful came with fish and vegetables.  Lisbeth had posted about her favorite version, extolling the shredded iceberg lettuce at Han Sung.  She is onto something, and the Rainbow Sushi version mixed several kinds of lettuce with radicchio and other vegetables.

I really recommend the Lotte in Catonsville.  The Ellicott City branch work great for quick shopping, but the new Lotte is worth the drive because it's bigger and has enormous selections of Indian, Korean and other ethnic items.

Ribs And Chicken Combo At RG's BBQ Grill

Ribs & chicken from RG's BBQ Grill

The chicken may cost a few dollars more at RG's BBQ Grill than your supermarket rotisserie display, but you should check the Laurel joint for takeout because you get their sauce as part of the deal.

Takeout can be an important tool when we don't have time to cook, but I try to take out wisely because it can get pricey fast.  My newest find has been been the chicken-and-ribs platter from RG'S BBQ Grill in Laurel because it's easily three or four meals if you extend it out.

RG's looks like a shack on U.S. 1, but its kitchen tastes like it has ambition.  They make their own sauces, their own pickles, some absolutely delicious sides like greens, beans, and corn bread.  I have already raved about a special like the lamb, but the basics shine just as well.

For about $20, I buy a half chicken and half rack of ribs.  They're both moist, flavorful meat coated in RG's zesty sauce.  While I wait, I fill up two or three more small containers of the sauce.  I split between mild and medium.  The medium is zesty enough that I have left the spicy sauce to the true heat seekers.

Either way, the platter delivers.  The first meal is easy because you get two side dishes.  So dine down on greens, corn bread and maybe most of the ribs.  Then cut up the chicken to pack for lunch.  We get two big lunches if I package chicken with some other leftovers -- a little rice or vegetables, maybe just some cut up vegetables.

A little leftover can even be extended into a fourth meal.  Maybe the risotto with rib meat like I made from Gourmet Griller's earlier this winter.  Maybe a barbecued chicken salad sandwich if I reserve a few ounces of the breast meat.

I have options because RG's BBQ Grill does such a good job.  It is worth a stop and few extra dollars because that meat blows away anything you could grab off the heat trays at a supermarket.  The sauce is my favorite around, and you can just taste the complexity and the care that they put into it.  It's so good that I need to quote Todd Kliman so that I don't just plagiarize him:

[T]he sauce is a pitch-perfect balance of tanginess, sweetness and heat. That sauce is so addicting, you probably will end up forgiving the drier patches of an otherwise tasty smoked chicken and want to either pour it over everything else or even, as my friend said, drink it plain.

This is restaurant food that you're just lucky enough to take home in clamshell tray.  You can take home the ribs and chicken and make them your own.

RG"s BBQ Grill has tables so you can eat there.  It's counter service.  Very casual, very friendly.  Any other great takeout that you recommend?  I'm in the market for weeknight help.

Yet Nal House: Takeout Dumplings Make A Great Meal, Blow Away The Bags From The Frozen Aisle

Scrumptious convenience.  Yet Nal House's meat or kimchi dumplings.

Now you can have your convenience and eat it too.

Yet Nal House is a Korean restaurant on Rte 40 in Ellicott City that has captivated my imagination with casual stews, soups and other dishes.  Our tipster Min just told me about the newest dish that I have to try -- beef and octopus hot pot to warm away the winter chill.  She said it was sweet from the bulgogi meat, but so spicy that her husband to take some deep breaths from time to time.

Bulgogi & octopus hot pot

I recognize that octopus hot pot may be adventurous, but Yel Nal offers a perfect convenience food for almost anyone -- house-made meat or kimchi dumplings sold in plastic bags from the white freezer right inside the door.

These are Korean mandoo.  Way better than even the good frozen dumplings that I have enjoyed from Lotte, H Mart or similar stores.  Buy them at the cash register in the back -- after you also check out the takeout soups and rice cakes in the refrigerators.

Yet Nal's freezer

A tipster turned me onto the mandoo, saying that they're made in Yel Nal House.  They certainly have a thinner, more delicate wrapper than the ones that I make, and they have a cleaner, fresher taste than the supermarket bags.  They're an easy staple because you want them to stay frozen.  Grab dumplings from your freezer for an instant meal.

For $10, you get a bag with 20 dumplings.  It's not cheap, but it's a steal where you can turn that bag into a meal for four to five.  Those dumplings can be steamed, boiled or pan-fried.  Then served up with kimchi or any number of vegetable side dishes.

I have tried all kinds of cucumber, eggplant and other vegetable side dishes out of my beloved cookbook Growing Up In A Korean Kitchen.  You can borrow that from the Howard County library.  With kimchi and another vegetable, we have been satisfied with four Yet Nal dumplings each.  I think they could anchor all kinds of meals if you play around.

Bagged dumplings

The dumplings are absolutely convenience food.  You can steam them for six to eight minutes in any steamer and end up with a perfect snack or dinner.

My recent discovery has been pan frying.  You heat a thick sheen of vegetable oil in a pan and add frozen dumplings.  Right from the freezer, this is real convenience.  Let them sputter over a medium heat without moving until the bottoms turn golden brown.  

Then pour a half-inch of water into the pan and cover.  Usually I lower the heat.  I let them steam for maybe six minutes.  Then I uncover and turn the heat higher.  I evaporate the water until the dumplings start to sputter and crisp again.  You get a cooked-through dumpling that is crisp on the bottom and soft on the top.

Serve with a dipping sauce.  I mix equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar, then add about a half part of sesame oil.  Maybe a dash of hot sauce.  Maybe some sliced green onions.

Great Takeout in Howard County

I'm secure enough in my kitchen abilities to know that it is best some nights to just carry dinner home. Pull some plates. Spread out the food. Start eating right away.

Howard County is made for takeout. Every shopping center has a Chinese restaurant and a pizza joint. But bad food doesn't make for a great night of takeout, so there are the places where I'll drive a little extra to pick up.

This list is about pick-up, no-cook dinners. Tacos at Lily's are great to eat right away, and the crab cakes at Boarman's broil up to a dinner worth serving guests. However, this is a list about lunch in a bag (or a box) that you can take home, eat right away, and maybe have something left over for lunch the next day.

• Chinese at Jesse Wong's Asean Bistro off Rte 108 in Ellicott City. This was Mrs. HowChow's staple when we lived up near there. Hot and sour soup with crunchy noodles. Chow fun. Black bean chicken. That's my wife's comfort menu, although you can't go wrong at Jesse Wong's -- and it tops the list because they'll deliver so you don't even have to go there.
• Fried chicken at Chick N' Friends in Columbia. Chick N' Friends is takeout -- no seating at all. If you can, get chicken right out of the fryer. Pair it up with corn bread, maybe collard greens. This is home cooking in the best possible way.
• Pizza from Pazani Trattoria in Elkridge or Coal Fire in Ellicott City. Pizza is personal. I go thin crust with premium toppings, so I go to Pazani off Rte 103 north of Rte 100 or Coal Fire on Rte 108 near Snowden River.
• Korean soup and panchan at Lotte Supermarket in Ellicott City. It'll be a while before I forget the Channel 2 report about vermin. But I have to still say that Lotte serves up a unique takeout if you buy a quart of spicy beef soup near produce and your selection of pickled vegetables and other dishes at the panchan bar near dairy.
• Peruvian grilled chicken at Pollo Fuego in Jessup or Mega Chicken in Laurel. Mega Chicken is all the way into Anne Arundel, but it's only 15-20 minutes from much of Howard County. At either place, the delicious chicken and the yucca fries are worth the drive, and the fries crisp right back to life in a 400-degree oven.
• Any grilled meats and the pumpkin appetizer at Maiwand Kabob in Columbia (or in Burtonsville or near the Arundel's Mill Mall). This growing Afghan chain sells wonderful food and especially wonderful bread. That pumpkin is worth any drive.
• Thai curries and mango sticky rice from Bangkok Delight off Rte 108 in Ellicott City. The curries all travel well. This is one of my favorite places. The sticky rice dessert is best right out of the kitchen, but it travels okay as long as you don't put it in your refrigerator.
• Pho from An Loi in Columbia. This may be my favorite. You get the Vietnamese soup in pieces -- a quart of broth, a container of noodles and meat, a bag of sprouts, herbs and hot peppers. So it's as fresh in your kitchen as it is at An Loi. Warm comfort in winter. A light dinner in summer. We always have leftovers and have learned to refrigerate the noodles in with the broth so that they don't dry out.

What take out do you love? Pizza that I missed? Other places for Chinese? For sandwiches? I would love suggestions. (Update: There are already some suggestions in the comments. Thanks.)

This is part of the "What I Learned" series of posts. They're organized in rings. See below to continue on the ring of ideas about food in Howard County. Or click to switch to the posts about different cuisines or posts about shopping.

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