Samgyetang

Samgyetang or more commonly known outside the Korean peninsula as Chicken Ginseng Soup is a popular dish for Koreans during summertime because it is said to replace the lost nutrients one excessively sweats out during the extremely hot season. However, this dish is also served anytime of the year, may it be warm or cold weather because it is a nutritious dish.

I tried cooking this Korean dish a few times eversince watching a re-run of the finals of the Iron Chef, where, Chef Sakai prepared a Samgyetang inspired dish as one of his entrees during his showdown with Chef Alain Passard.

If you have the time and would love to try cooking some thing new, you might want to try this.

Ingredients:

1 pc Small Chicken (Cornish hen or spring chicken)

¼ cup rice (you can use normal white rice, I use sushi rice)

6 cloves of garlic

Green onions

2 pcs small ginseng roots

Few jujubes

Cooking Direction:

1. Wash and rinse your chicken in cold running water.

2. Soak ¼ cup of rice for about an hour.

3. Stuff the chicken with the soaked rice, ginseng root, jujubes, and 6 cloves

of garlic. Place it in a pot.

4. Pour water into the pot and boil it for 20 minutes. When it starts to

boil, skim off any foam or fat that rises on the surface.

5. Pour in more water and boil it for another 30 – 40 minutes.

6. To test whether the chicken is already cooked, it should be easily pulled

apart by chopsticks.

7. Served best with some salt and pepper, and of course kimchi.