Samgyetang

삼계탕

(Chicken Stew with Ginseng)

Samgyetang is a healthy dish made with chicken and ginseng. Despite being a hot dish, it is eaten during Sambok (Chobok, Jungbok, and Malbok), the hottest days of the lunar year, because it is believed to restore one’s appetite and energy especially during the summer season. Even restaurants that do not have this dish on their menu on ordinary days offer it during summer. In Descendants of the Sun,4 Shi Jin and Dae Young try to cook this dish for Mo Yeon and Myung Joo after their recent life-threatening experiences.

4 Descendants of the Sun, directed by Eung Bok Lee and Sang Hoon Baek, written by Eun Sook Kim, starring Joong Ki Song and Hye Kyo Song (2016; Seoul: KBS), Netflix.

MAIN INGREDIENTs

Soup Base

HOW TO Prepare

  1. Cut off the tail fat of chicken and remove blood off its bones. Clean inside and outside surfaces of the chicken under cold running water.
  2. Wash glutinous rice and soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain in a strainer.
  3. Wash jujube. Peel and wash the chestnuts.
  4. Peel the garlic and wash.
  5. Stuff the cleaned chicken with ginseng, glutinous rice, jujube, chestnut, and garlic cloves.
  6. Make a small slit or hole on one side of the chicken leg and cross or put the other leg into that hole. The small slit will bind the chicken legs together.

HOW TO Prepare

  1. Cut off the tail fat of chicken and remove blood off its bones. Clean inside and outside surfaces of the chicken under cold running water.
  2. Wash glutinous rice and soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain in a strainer.
  3. Wash jujube. Peel and wash the chestnuts.
  4. Peel the garlic and wash.
  5. Stuff the cleaned chicken with ginseng, glutinous rice, jujube, chestnut, and garlic cloves.
  6. Make a small slit or hole on one side of the chicken leg and cross or put the other leg into that hole. The small slit will bind the chicken legs together.

HOW TO COOK

  1. Boil all ingredients for soup base with water for 30 minutes. When the water starts to boil, lower the heat.
  2. Put the stuffed chicken in the soup base and boil it again, covered, over high heat.
  3. When the soup starts to boil, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
  4. Skim off the foam that rise on the surface.
  5. Add garlic and boil for another 10 to 15 minutes until garlic is cooked. Be careful and don’t boil the garlic too much.
  6. Place the chicken into a large bowl and pour the soup in.
  7. Place the chopped green onions on top of the chicken.
  8. Serve with salt and black pepper.

chef’s notes

  1. 600 grams chicken is good for this recipe. However, you can use a bigger chicken; just adjust the amount of the other ingredients. Cooking time depends on the size of the chicken. 600 grams chicken usually takes 30 to 35 minutes of cooking while a chicken that’s more than a kilo takes more than an hour.
  2. It is hard to buy ginseng here. You can use oriental herbs in place of ginseng and this recipe will taste the same even without it.
  3. One pack of oriental herb is enough for two 600-gram chickens.

 

This Dish Appears in the Following Korean Drama/s:

 

CHEF REGGIE’S TIPS

ADD-ONS

Side Salad: Enjoy Samgyetang with a side salad of pako, watercress, parsley, cilantro, leeks, and arugula. Prepare 30 grams each of the greens—snipped, the leeks cut into thin strips about 4 inches long, and the arugula left whole (if using baby arugula). Chill greens until it’s time to toss in the dressing (see recipe below).

2 teaspoons Korean chili powder

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons fish sauce

2 teaspoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons sesame oil

  1. Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
  2. Adjust seasonings to taste.
  3. Toss greens in dressing before serving.