Ginseng chicken soup
Locals think that the body's vitality needs to be renewed throughout the summer, therefore eating a steaming bowl of samgyetang (chicken ginseng soup) is a typical activity between June and early September. A little spring chicken is filled with chestnuts, garlic, dried jujubes, ginseng, sticky rice, and gingko nuts in this healthy soup. Slowly boil the ingredients until the beef is quite soft and the thick soup has a somewhat bitter yet aromatic flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 cornish hens. Each hen weighs about 1½ pounds, a nice portion for 1 person.
- ½ cup short grain rice (or glutinous rice), rinsed and soaked in cold water for 1 hour.
- 2 fresh ginseng roots, washed
- 2 large dried jujubes, washed
- 16 garlic cloves, washed and the tips are removed
- 2 to 3 green onions, chopped
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a small mixing bowl, combine salt, sesame seeds, ground black pepper, and toasted sesame oil. Remove from the equation.
- In a separate dish, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, and honey (or sugar). Using a spoon, thoroughly combine the ingredients. Toss in the onion and jalapeño. Remove from the equation.
- Remove the rice from the pot and strain it.
- Remove the hens' giblets and massage them all over with salt to clean them up properly. Rinse well with cold running water.
- Place the chickens on a cutting board, pat dry, and use kitchen scissors to trim away any excess fat around the body cavities. If you like, you may trim the tips of the wings.
- Rice, 1 ginseng, 1 jujube, and 8 garlic cloves should be stuffed into each fowl. Fill the pot with any remaining rice.
- Turn down the heat to medium and cook another 40 minutes until the chicken, ginseng, and rice turn soft. Open up the pot from time to time and ladle some broth from the bottom over top of the chickens. If the broth evaporates too much, add more water.
- Remove from the heat.
