Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup~ Samgyetang 삼계탕

My first homemade Samgyetang. We used to have Samgyetang at restaurants but today I decided to to try to make our own since I have some dried Korean Ginseng which my father bought from Dongdaemun last year. Korean will eat Samgyetang in summer especially during Sam-bok 삼복, which is the 3 hottest day in summer in lunar calendar. The 3 hottest day are Cho-bok 초복 beginning of summer, Jung-bok 중복 middle of summer, and Mal-bok 말복 end of summer. Korean believe that after eat this hot boiling Ginseng Chicken Soup on these hottest days and sweat profusely is good for health.

About the Ingredient

• Spring Chicken is use to cook Samgyetang - small, young chicken that less than 30 days old, around 400-500g. You may use regular chicken (usually weight 1kg and above), which can be shared among 2-3 persons as more ingredient is needed to stuff inside the chicken. Also, regular chicken meat might not as chewy as spring chicken. 

• Samgyetang Ingredient Pack can be obtain from Korean mart. It has jujube, vetch milk roots, and some medicinal herbs inside. Ingredients might be vary depending on the product brand. Price is around RM13 to RM18. It is NOT include Ginseng root, therefore you need to buy Ginseng root separately.

          

• Ginseng is selling in Korean mart too usually it's frozen. Price is depending on quality and weight. Those in picture price around RM55 and above.

          

Ingredients (for 2 Serving):

Spring Chicken (400-500gm)

Glutinous Rice - 1/4 cup

Ginseng Root - 1 

Jujube or Red Dates - 4 pcs

Garlic Gloves - 6-8 gloves

Samgyetang pack - 1


How to Cook:

Step 1

Soak the glutinous rice in cold water for an hour, strain and set aside. Wash the chicken inside-out thoroughly under running water. Rub salt all over the chicken inside out to get rid of smell, rinse thoroughly and dry it with kitchen towel.

Step 2

Stuff the spring chicken with glutinous rice, ginseng root, red dates and garlic cloves. Make sure you leave about 1/4 space inside, for the rice to expand during the cooking process.

Step 3

Use a skewer to seal off the opening of the bottom. Make a cut on the bottom part of one thigh, tuck in the other drumstick into the cut hole to keep the legs crossed together. Alternatively, you may tie it with strings or secure it using skewer sticks.

Step 4

Place the stuffed chickens and samgyetang pack ingredients into a pot, add around 10 to 12 cups of cold water (or enough to cover 3/4 of the chicken), bring it to boil.

Step 5

Cook it under medium high heat for 30 minutes with lid. Skim off the foam or any visible fat from the broth surface if any. Turn the chicken over to the other side and continue to simmer with lid under low heat for another 20 mins. Then it is done. 

Serve it in a bowl or hot stone ware. I am cooking it with cast iron pot, therefore I just move the whole pot to dining table. Remember to seasoned the broth with salt according to your taste.  

We prefer unseasoned taste of chicken broth, but we will dip the chicken meat with salt that serve aside when we feel like to do that. Before eat, we normally use a scissor to cut and open up the stuffed chicken to make it easy eat. I personally love the cooked glutinous rice in Samgyetang more than the chicken meat!

Hope you enjoy cooking the Samgyetang at home.