KoreaToday Cointreau’s Recommendation: Samgyetang
Samgyetang, or ginseng chicken soup, is made by stuffing young chickens body-cavity with glutinous rice, ginseng, jujube and garlic, and then boiling them. In Korea, there are the three hottest days called ``sambok'' between the sixth and seventh months of the lunar calendar. Korean people traditionally enjoy Samgyetang on those scorching days to overcome the hot weather.
Ingredients
4 young chickens, 180 grams of glutinous rice, milk vetch (hwanggi) water (20 grams of milk vetch, 3 liters of water), 40 grams of fresh wet ginseng, 20 grams (4 heads) of garlic, 16 grams (4 pieces) of jujube, 2.6 liters (13 cups) of water, 20 grams of green onion, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1/8 tablespoon of ground black pepper
Preparation
1. Remove internal organs and excess fat from the chickens through the necks, and wash them.
2. Wash the glutinous rice and soak in water for 2 hours, drain water using a strainer for 10 minutes.
3. Wash the milk vetch roots and soak in water for 2 hours.
4. Wash and clean the fresh wet ginseng and cut the head apart. Also wash and clean garlic and jujube.
(pic 1)
5. Wash green onion and chop finely.
Recipe
1. Put the milk vetch roots and water in the pot, heat it up for 20 minutes on high heat. When it boils, lower the heat to medium, simmer it for 40 minutes, filter it through a strainer to make milk vetch water.
2. Stuff each chicken cavity with the rice, ginseng, garlic and jujube. Cross and tie the legs of each chicken to keep the stuffing inside.
(pic 2)
3. Put the chickens and milk vetch water in a pot and boil for 20 minutes on high heat. Reduce the heat down to medium and simmer for another 50 minutes until the soup turns milky white.
(pic 3)
4. Serve with green onion, salt and ground black pepper.
* Do not boil the chicken soup for too long, or it the meat may become too soft.
* All images of the recipe are courtesy of ``The Beauty of Korean Food: With 300 Best-Loved Recipes,'' published by the Institute of Traditional Korean Food.