Samgyetang (Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup)

Phew, the weather has been erratic recently!  It’s been mostly blistering hot and only occasionally we have some rain which traps in more heat making the weather warmer after the shower.  As a result, I have been making more savoury and sweet soups for preventive health measures what with many people falling sick these days. 

One of the new soup recipes which I tried not long ago is ‘Samgyetang’ (from Korean to English: Sam = Ginseng, Gye = Chicken and Tang = Soup; not too different from the Chinese language, huh?).  This soup dish is traditionally served in Korea during summer accompanied by side dishes (Banchan) and a complimentary glass of ginseng wine.  The Koreans believe in the adage of ‘fighting fire with fire’ as the ’hot’ soup replaces the body’s nutrients lost through sweating and physical exertion in the sweltering heat.  The main ingredients of this soup is a whole young chicken and fresh Korean ginseng stuffed with glutinous rice, garlic and jujube.  Other medicinal ingredients such as ginger, gingko nuts (pak kor), wolfberries (kei chi), Codonopsis pilosula (tong sam), and Angelica sinensis (tong kwai) may also be added.  Samgyetang is a revered dish in Korea due its beneficial properties.

Samgyetang Recipe courtesy of Maangchi:

Ingredients:

1 small Chicken, gutted and cleaned (I used skinned ’Kampung’/Village Chicken for a healthier option; you may choose to have the skin intact)

1/4 cup Glutinous Rice (I omitted this)

12 Garlic cloves

Spring onions, chopped

12 Jujubes/dried Red Dates, washed and seeded (’Hong Zhou’ in Cantonese)

1 or 2 fresh Ginseng roots (I used dried Ginseng whiskers or ‘Yan Sam Sou’ in Cantonese)

1 pack of Samgyetang Herbs

Method:

1) Stuff chicken with half of the quantity of garlic cloves, spring onions, jujubes, ginseng and herbs.

2) Place stuffed chicken into a pot.  Pour water until chicken is just submerged.  Add the balance of the ingredients into the pot.

 3) Boil soup for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  You may add a little salt before serving the soup with rice (omit this if you have added glutinous rice) and kimchi.  I personally do not like to add seasoning into my home-cooked soups as the ingredients would have acted as natural flavouring agents.     

Enjoy this highly nutritious soup!