Samgyetang Recipe: Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup at Home

Full transcript

Annyeong, yeoreobun! It's Yul from KVIBE IDOLS. Today's dish is the one Koreans eat on the hottest days of summer. Samgyetang, ginseng chicken soup.

Wait, hot soup in summer? Yes! Koreans call it fighting heat with heat, ihyeolchiyeol. On the three hottest days of the year, called boknal, restaurants have lines out the door.

Let's cook. Get one small young chicken, about half a kilo. Rinse it and pat it dry. Soak half a cup of sweet sticky rice for one hour.

Now stuff the chicken. Push in the sticky rice, a few cloves of garlic, two dried jujubes, and one small root of ginseng. Cross the legs and tie them, or just tuck one leg through a little cut in the skin.

Put the chicken in a pot, cover it with water, and add a few more garlic cloves and a piece of green onion. Boil it, then simmer it gently for about one hour, until the meat falls off the bone.

Serve it in a hot stone bowl with chopped green onion. Season it yourself at the table with salt and black pepper. Dip the meat in a little salt, and eat the soft rice from inside the chicken.

Yul's tip! Save some broth and rice at the end. Mix them together and you get a bonus porridge. Masitge deuseyo!