Samgyetang Recipe (Korean Chicken Soup with Ginseng & Sticky Rice Stuffing)

Samgyetang Soup (Korean Chicken Soup with Ginseng & Sticky Rice Stuffing)

Korean Chicken and Ginseng Soup Samgyetang Recipe. Samgyetang is an ancient Korean variety of  soup, that  consists of a whole junvenile chicken and ginseng root. Samgyetang soup is special even more because the chicken cavity filled with a mixture of sticky rice or sweet glutinous rice along with other korean medicinal herbs. The sweet rice stuffed baby chicken then boiled in broth containing extra ginseng root, bulb of garlic and traditional herbs. Samgyetang itself literally translates as “‘ginseng chicken soup” in English. Samgyetang is traditionally served in the summer and considered as a body tonic which replace the body liquid due to excessive sweating during  hot summers in Korea, beside it’s provide nutritional and medicinal values.

Korean Samgyetang Chicken Soup with Ginseng & Stuffed with Sticky Rice

I love samgyetang, my first and only experienced eaten samgyetang soup is on Bibigo Korean restaurant, Pacific Place Jakarta. My friend told me that Bibigo Restaurant is quite authentic within the acquired korean taste. The samgyetang soup was tagged for about 15 USD exclude the taxes and service charges. The presentation is pretty simple, the stuffed chicken sinking in round metal bowl and then topped with chopped scallion. Samgyetang broth is still boiling hot, and what’s surprise me is they using young ginseng root instead of old ginseng that used to be added in chinese herbal soup.

Korean Chicken with Ginseng Soup (Samgyetang)

Authentic Korean samgyetang soup got intens ginseng root flavour, which is resemble of bitter parnish or green mustard. My friend also told me that Korean people even used to eaten the young ginseng root as a vegetable. Well, actually i personally didn’t really like the bitter after taste of ginseng root that overpowering the natural sweetness of the chicken meat, that’s why i use a tiny little  ginseng for my samgyetang soup. A little bitter hint of ginseng root on chicken soup will be pleasant for my licking.

Ginseng Root for Making Samgyetang

Baby Kampong Chicken

Best Korean samgyetang sup using a young baby chicken or cornish hen, but i’m using junvenile kampong chicken weighed about 300 grams. Kampong chicken or Malay Chicken is a tougher meat than many other breeds, but kampong chicken considered a premium by people living in urban areas and costs more in supermarkets and wet markets than conventionally raised broiler chickens, due to its supposedly better flavour. Young kampung chicken needed longer time to tenderized compare to the cornish hen, this provide a sufficent time to cooked throught the sweet rice stuffing without overcooked the chicken.

Sticky Rice Stuffed Baby Chicken Soup with Ginger Root, Jujubes and Goji Beries

Korean Samgyetang Stuffing: Sticky Rice, Ginseng Root, Garlic, Ginger, Red Dates, Sliced Abalone*optional

Samgyetang or Korean baby chicken and ginseng soup is stuffed with glutinous or sweet sticky rice. Actually it’s not only using sweet rice, but its a mixture of whole cloves of garlic, sliced ginger, and dried seeded red dates or red jujube. Depending on the recipe, other medicinal herbs such as Astragalus propinquus (hwanggi), wolfberry or goji berry (gugija), Codonopsis pilosula (dangsam), and Angelica sinensis (danggwi) may also be added. I also add some thinly sliced Rehydrated Dried Abalone within the sweet stuffing. The abalone is actually almost forgotton rehydrated abalone in my freezer that supposed to be added into my Buddha Jump Over The Wall Soup. Another important tips for making samgyetang is Do Not Over Stuffing  the chicken cavity because the sweet rice is tend to be expanded once it cooked and it’s will explode if you overfilled the chicken cavity.

Korean Ginseng and Chicken Soup,  Stuffed with Sweet Sticky Rice

Best sticky rice stuffed chicken and ginseng soup or Korean samgyetang soup recipe need tasty and delicious broth for making it. Even the autentic samgyetang recipe using nothing flavoured stock but tab water for boiling the stuffed chicken. Well, actually i prefer healthy and tasty  into my daily dish term. You know, healthy food is sometimes didn’t take place in our society simply because it’s mostly taste like a crap. I recommended using Homemade Superior Stock or Homemade Roasted Bone Stock for making samgyetang, then you didn’t need to add any artifisial flavoured into it. Beside the broth, I also add two  3×3 inches pieces if konbu or japanese seaweed that used to make dashi or japanese stock. Konbu brings umami hint that blended well with dripping juices from the kampong chicken along the bitter hint of ginseng root.

Samgyetang Korean Baby Chicken Soup with Ginseng Root

Korean Samgyetang Soup

Samgyetang soup is a very healthy meals, if you want to trimmed some of your belly fat, i guess this is the perfect recipe for your diet. Samgyetang is high in nutritional values, the lean chicken is rich in protein and essential amino acids but it’s low in calories.  It is no wonder that samgyetang is an unrivaled healthy food, but i didn’t have any reason why it’s usually consumed during the hottest day of summer and once the person is sick, but n0t in the coldy winter. Not very scientific reason but Korean people belive that  blood flow increases near the skin and decreases in the internal organs during the hotters days of summer. This condition leading to cooling of the internal organs and reducing appetite and energy. Incontrary to common believes, eating a hot dish like samgyetang can facilitate blood flow in the internal organs and recovering the appetite and energy. Samgyetang soup and ginseng also lowers body heat by emitting sweat.

Samgyetang Korean Chicken and Ginseng Soup Recipe

Samgyetang Korean Chicken and Ginseng Soup Recipe :

Ingredients :

• 1 small chicken (baby chicken or cornish hen)
• 1/4 cup of sweet glutinous rice
• 2 small ginseng roots (1 for broth , 1 for stuffing)
• 2 cloves of garlic for stuffing +1 bulb for broth
• 1 stalk of scallion or green onions
• 6 red dates or red jujubes
• 1 tbsp wolf berries or goji berries
• 1 dried chinese mushrooms, sliced
• 1 abalone for stuffing, thinly slice*optional
• 2 pieces (3×3″) of konbu/seaweed*optional
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6 cups of water (Homemade Superior Stock or Homemade Roasted Bone Stock)

How to Make Korean Samgyetang Soup Recipe:

• In a large metal pot, bring 6 cups of water or stock to boil
• Add the konbu, scallion, chinese mushrooms, 1/2 tbsp wolf berries,1 bulb of garlic plus 1 ginseng root into the pot
• Simmer the broth for about 30 minutes, set aside
  
• Wash and rinse your chicken in cold running water
  
• Season and rub the chicken all over with salt and pepper, set aside
  
• Soak 1/4 cup of sweet rice for about 1 hour, drained
• In a glass bowl, combine the sweet sticky rice, 3 jujubes, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 tbsp goji berries and thinly sliced abalone
  
• Stuff the chicken cavity with the sweet rice mixture, DO NOT OVER STUFFING IT!!!

Stuffed Chicken with Sticky Rice Mixture

• Secure the chicken cavity with 2 bamboo skewer or kitchen twines to prevent the stuffing submerged in the broth during cooking.

Secure the Stuffed Chicken Cavity with Bamboo Skewer

• Place the stuffed chicken it in a pot. Pour water into the pot until the chicken cavity is completely submerged in broth, boil it over high heat for 20 minutes.

Boil Submerged Stuffed Baby Chicken

• When it starts boiling, skim off any foam and fat that rises to the surface Then pour in more water and boil it over medium heat for 40 minutes.

Discard The Floating Foam from the Samgyetang Broth

• The samgyetang is done when the chicken will be easily pulled apart by chopsticks and the sticky rice is throughy cooked.
• Serve the samgyetang Soup immediately

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