Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup)
Samgyetang is a traditional Korean chicken soup made with ginseng and herbs, known for its health benefits and comforting taste.
Ingredients
- 2 cornish hens
- 1/2 cup glutinous rice or short grain rice
- 8 plump garlic cloves smashed
- 2 large green onions white parts
- 2 jujubes
- 2 ginseng roots
- 6 cups water or good quality chicken stock
Toppings
- chopped green onion
- salt & pepper
- sesame oil
Instructions
- Wash the rice a few times then soak in water for 30 minutes.
- Smash the garlic cloves and chop the green onions. I'm also using just the white parts of large green onion (depa), but if you can't find depa then you can just use 4 white parts of a regular green onion.
- Clean the Cornish hens inside & out under cold running water. Tear off any pieces of fat that easily come off, then cut off any excess fat including the tail & wing tips.
- Stuff the cavity with the soaked rice & 2 cloves of smashed garlic each, but leave a little room for the rice to expand. You should still have some rice leftover- that's fine we need it in the pot outside of the Cornish hens to help thicken the soup.
- You can tie the legs together if you have butcher's twine, or you can just cut a slit into one of the legs
- Then cross the other leg over and pass it through the slit to secure it.
- Put the chicken into a pot along with the remaining garlic & rice, jujubes, fresh ginseng root, & large green onions.
- Bring to a boil and skim off any scum that floats to the surface.
- Cover on medium heat for 40 minutes. Add water if needed.
- Open the lid periodically to ladle the broth over the hens. You should notice a change in the viscosity of the broth as you do this- it will become thicker from the glutinous rice.
- Transfer the hens into individual bowls- you can use a heated earthenware bowl to keep it hot & bubbling if you want it restaurant style, but any regular bowl is fine. Season with salt & pepper to taste and top with chopped green onions.
