🇰🇷 South Korea · Korea

SamgyetangKorean ginseng chicken soup

Name: Samgyetang (Korean ginseng chicken soup)
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 2 servings (2 small birds); scale up in separate pots
Cuisine: South Korea
Ingredients: 2 young chickens (yeong-byeong-ari), about 500 g (1 lb) each, or Cornish hens; 100 g (1/2 cup) glutinous (sweet) rice, rinsed and soaked 1 hour, drained; 2 small fresh ginseng roots, washed; dried ginseng also works; 6 jujubes (daechu), dried; 2 slices astragalus root (hwanggi), dried; 4 cloves garlic, peeled; 1.5 L (6 cups) water, enough to cover the birds; kosher salt and black pepper, served on the side; chopped scallion, for serving

A whole young chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng, astragalus and jujubes, simmered in an earthenware pot and served piping hot with salt on the side, the classic soup of the boknal summer days.

Origin and history

The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture describes the soup, there called gyesamtang, as a food of the three boknal days of summer: a young chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng, astragalus and jujubes, and it ties the dish to the idea that food and medicine share one origin. It gives no timeline. The Korea Times, citing the Rural Development Administration, reports that Koreans have made chicken soup since at least the Joseon era, that wealthier Koreans ate a ginseng version in the colonial period, and that it became popular with ordinary people after the 1960s.

Make it at home

Makes: 2 servings (2 small birds); scale up in separate pots
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Hands-on: 25 min

Ingredients

Metric US

2 young chickens (yeong-byeong-ari), about 500 g (1 lb) each, or Cornish hens
100 g1/2 cup glutinous (sweet) rice, rinsed and soaked 1 hour, drained
2 small fresh ginseng roots, washed; dried ginseng also works
6 jujubes (daechu), dried
2 slices astragalus root (hwanggi), dried
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1.5 L6 cups water, enough to cover the birds
kosher salt and black pepper, served on the side
chopped scallion, for serving

Method

1. Rinse the chickens inside and out, trim excess fat and cut off the tail area and the wing tips.
2. Fill each cavity with about half of the rice (about 3/4 full, because it swells), plus ginseng, 3 jujubes and a piece of astragalus root, and add 2 garlic cloves.
3. Close the opening by crossing the legs and tying them, or sew it with kitchen string, so the stuffing does not leak.
4. Put the birds in a deep earthenware or heavy pot, add the water to cover, and bring to a boil over high heat.
5. Skim the foam, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 50 to 60 minutes, until the meat is falling off the bone and the rice is soft.
6. Serve each bird in a hot bowl with plenty of broth, scatter with scallion, and put salt and pepper on the side for each diner to season.

Notes

Traditionally eaten on the three boknal days of midsummer (chobok, jungbok, malbok), on the principle of fighting heat with heat. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture explains the young bird: chicks hatched in spring weighed about 400 to 500 g by summer, which suited a nourishing summer meal.
Fresh ginseng may be hard to find; dried ginseng is a fair substitute with a slightly more medicinal edge. Astragalus can be omitted, and the soup is still recognisable; it will be less herbal.
Eat the rice from the cavity with the meat, with kimchi and other side dishes. Diners season the soup themselves with salt and black pepper. The soup is eaten whole, or the broth is strained.
The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture lists it under the older name gyesamtang (chicken and ginseng soup). Make ahead: broth keeps 2 days.

Adapted from Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (한국민족문화대백과사전), 계삼탕, Korea Times, on Korean ginseng chicken soup, and Stars and Stripes, samgyetang and boknal.