Ginseng Chicken Soup Korean Food

SAMGYETANG (GINSENG CHICKEN SOUP)

Steps:

• Clean the chicken. Do not cut off the neck and/or tail, if they are still attached. They help keep the rice inside the cavity. Place the cleaned chicken on a cutting board or a large plate. Clean the inside of the cavity with a paper towel to remove any blood. Fold the attached neck into the cavity to close the hole.
• Stuff the cavity with the sweet rice and a couple of garlic cloves, leaving room (about 1/4 of the cavity) for the rice to expand as it cooks. You can also cut off some offshoots of the ginseng and add to the cavity if you like.
• To keep the rice inside the cavity while being cooked, use of one of these two methods: (1) Make a small cut through the thick skin part between one thigh and the cavity opening, but not too close to the edge. Then, use your finger to expand the hole enough to fit the end part of a leg. Bring the other leg over, and insert the end part through the hole to keep the legs crossed together, tucking the tail in to close the opening (see the photos above); or (2) Simply cross the legs and tie together with kitchen twine. Tightly close the cavity with a toothpick if necessary.
• In a medium size pot, place the chicken and add 5 to 6 cups (or enough to cover most of the chicken) of water or chicken stock. Add the garlic, ginger, jujubes, and ginseng. If the chicken came with the neck that's been cut off, add to the pot. Also add the extra sweet rice to thicken the soup or in a herb bag to cook separately, if desired.
• Bring it to a boil over medium high heat. Skim off the foam on top. Cover, and boil for 15 minutes. You can add more water/broth if needed. Reduce the heat to medium low and boil, covered, for about 25 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken. Turn the heat off and rest the chicken in the pot for about 10 minutes. See note 3.
• Serve piping hot with the chopped scallions and salt and pepper on the side so each person can season to taste.

SAMGYETANG (GINSENG CHICKEN SOUP)

Steps:

• Wash the chicken (including the cavity) thoroughly under running cold water.
• Stuff the chicken cavity with sweet rice, ginseng, garlic cloves, jujube, gingko nuts, and chest nuts. Cross the chicken legs and tie them with a cotton tie. Alternatively, you can make a slit on one side of the chicken thigh skin and put the other leg through it. (It sounds difficult but it's not!) This is to minimise the stuffed ingredients falling out.
• Pour the water into a large pot and add the stuffed chicken. Boil the pot over medium high heat, covered, for 20 mins. Reduce the heat to medium to medium low and boil further until the chicken is fully cooked (about 30 mins further). Also, make sure the stuffed sweet rice is fully cooked too. Skim off any scum as desired.
• Transfer the chicken and the soup into a serving bowl. Garnish with the green onion and serve. Also, serve a small plate of salt and black pepper mixture (one plate per person). You can dip your chicken pieces into this sauce or add to your soup as desired. (Finally, don't forget to serve some Kimchi too!)

KONA K'S KOREAN CHICKEN GINSENG SOUP (SAMGYETANG)

Steps:

• Clean the hen thoroughly under cold running water.
• Place hen in medium-sized pot and cover with cold water. Bring to boil. Once the water starts boiling and white foam forms at the surface, take pot off the burner.
• Throw away the water, and rinse the hen thoroughly under running water until it's very clean (there should be no blood).
• Stuff the chicken with approximately 1/2 cup uncooked sweet rice, 3 garlic cloves and 3 dried dates (if there's still room, add more garlic or dates). The chicken should be completely stuffed.
• Place chicken in the pot. Add in the 10 cups water.
• Toss in remaining garlic cloves, dates, dried chestnuts, and sweet rice.
• Place over medium-high heat. Once water starts boiling, reduce heat to medium and let it simmer. Check on chicken every 20 minutes or so, spooning liquids over top of chicken so that it doesn't dry out.
• Flip chicken over once after about an hour of cooking so it cooks evenly.
• If the soup boils too hard, reduce heat to medium-low. It should be simmering gently for about 3 hours.
• To serve, break chicken apart. Ladle chicken, rice and soup into a bowl, and garnish with scallions. Add salt and pepper to taste.