Samgyetang (Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup)
photo from NY Times Cooking
This is the quintessential summer meal in South Korea. A soup? In the sweltering heat of summer? Yep, it's actually the most ideal food to eat on the most hottest days of the summer. Wonder why? It's all about the ingredients!
My mom says there's a saying: Yi yeol chi yeol (以熱治熱: 이열치열), which means “fight fire with fire.” In food energetics, chicken is warming to the body. The other ingredients such as ginseng and dates are qi tonics in Chinese & Traditional Korean Medicine. Consuming these during the hot days will keep up your energy, help to moderate heat and assist your body in generating fluids.
To help support the yang phase of your menstrual cycle (ovulation), you can enjoy this super nourishing soup.
Wanna try it? Here’s what you'll need:
2 cornish hens about 1.5 lbs each
½ cup short grain rice (or glutinous rice), rinsed and soaked in cold water for 1 hour
2 fresh ginseng and/or milk vetch roots (astragalus)
4-6 large dried jujubes, washed
16 garlic cloves, washed and the tips are removed
2 to 3 green onions, chopped (for topping later)
salt & ground black pepper
sesame seeds and sesame oil
*Plum Dragon Herbs makes a Chicken Soup Herbal Pack with the herbs required for this soup and a few extra herbal additions.
Last summer
Here’s a pic of when my mom and I made this recipe last summer. We used milk vetch root (astragalus) instead of ginseng.
1. Soak your rice for at least 1 hour, strain and set aside
2. Wash your hens
3. Stuff each hen with half of the rice, some jujubes, ginseng or astragalus and garlic
4. You can choose to close the opening with some toothpicks or leave it open
5. Place hens in a heavy pot and add 8 cups of water, cover and cook over med-high for 30 minutes. Then turn down the heat to medium, cook for another 40 minutes until everything feels soft. Skim the top from time to time. Add more water if needed.
For serving:
1. Place each hen in separate bowls, add some broth, sprinkle with green onions
2. For dipping sauce mix salt, pepper, sesame seeds and sesame oil
3. Enjoy!
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xoxo, Kris
