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.

Korean Food 101

I always consider eating in a Korean restaurant a gastronomic delight. You leave the restaurant very much satisfied although your wallet becomes a bit lighter. But choosing what to eat is quite a challenge if you are not familiar with the menu. So, from my regular dining at a Korean restaurant, here’s my beginners guide to Korean cuisine.

Most if not all Korean restaurants serve panchan, a variety of side dishes which comes in small, white-colored plates. The panchan can be anywhere from 2 to 12 varieties (my favorite Korean restaurant usually serves 6 but can go up to 10 depending on the number of people in the group). The most common panchan is kimchi, a fermented vegetable dish. The most popular variety is cabbage kimchi, but they say that there are more than 160 kimchi varieties. Kimchi is also the most popular food identified/associated with Korea. Other side dishes which I usually find in a Korean restaurant are fried zucchini; potato salad; steamed egg or rolled egg omellete, pickled radish, sweetened young potato; sweetened anchovies, and a lot more. Koreans actually make so many side dishes from almost everything.

For meat lovers, barbequed beef or bulgogi is highly recommended. Bulgogi literally means “fire beef” but is generally called “Korean barbeque”. Thin, tender strips of tenderloin or sirloin are marinated in a sauce (usually with soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and garlic) and cooked over hot charcoal grill or a portable gas grill.

Galbi is marinated beef ribs. Like bulgogi, it is also grilled. Galbi could either be pork ribs (dwaeji galbi) or beef ribs (sogalbi or just galbi).

Samgyeopsal is not a beef dish but a pork dish. It is thick, fatty slices of pork belly which is not seasoned nor marinated, cooked in a grill right at the table on the diner’s table. It is then consumed by dipping it in a sauce consisting of sesame oil, black pepper, and salt. It can also be eaten by placing a slice of meat inside a lettuce or any other green leaf with some cooked rice and a paste made up of chili paste and soy bean paste.

For chicken fanatics, you can try samgyetang, which literally means “ginseng chicken soup”, whole chicken stuffed with glutinous rice and boiled in a broth of Korean ginseng, dried jujube fruits, garlic and ginger.

Dak galbi or spicy chicken dish is made by stir-frying marinated diced chicken in gochujang (chilly pepper paste) and sliced vegetables together on a hot plate.

For stews ( jjiggae) you might want to try Kimchi jjiggae, a soup made with mainly kimchi, pork and tofu.

Doenjang jjiggae or soy bean paste stew, is made with fermented soybean paste and tofu.

Yukkae jang kuk, or beef stew.

Other food that you might want to try:

Japchae, one of the most popular Korean noodle dish, made from glass noodles stir fried in sesame oil with various vegetables, such as thinly-sliced carrots, onions, spinach, and mushrooms, served with beef, and flavorued with soy sauce and sweetened sugar.

Mandu, or dumplings.

Gimbap, steamed rice with various ingredients rolled in sheets of dried seaweed, similar to sushi.

Bibimbap, rice with mixed vegetables

I guess that’s about it. HAPPY EATING!!!