Monday, November 2, 2015

How to make Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup 韩国美食 [Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup - 韩国人参鸡汤]

How to make Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup

Things You'll Need:

1.   One whole Spring chicken or small Kampung chicken, or Cornfed chicken (note: do not 

      use normal meat chicken, it doesn't give a deep flavour to your soup base)
2.   8-12 garlic cloves (skin remove, crushed a little)
3.   12 Chinese dates (red jujube/ red dates)
4.   4-6 whole fresh/dried ginseng roots (soak in warm water for 3 hours before you cook). 

      You can get it from the chinese herbal store in Malaysia. If you happen to travel to 
      Korea, you should buy the dried ginseng from the korean ginseng factory or 
      Namdaemun market is a lot cheaper to have a real and authentic Korean taste. I have 
      thrown away the box but i remember it was around RM150 per box you will get around 
      30-40 small ginsengs. 
5.   Glutinous rice (soak in water for around 2 hours) 
6.   1 bunch of green onion  
7.   Fresh chestnut 
8.   Yarn - to tie the chicken leg 
9.   Korean Herbs for cooking Chicken Ginseng soup 
10. Rice water

Season To Taste:


1.   Sea Salt
2.   Freshly ground black pepper

3.   1 bunch green onion (cut to 2 inch) 
4.   Gi zhi
5.   Mixed nuts - sunflower seeds, pine nuts for garnishing 


Firstly, you need to remove and discard innards from chicken - especially the remaining liver. It has a fishy taste if you didn't not wash it clean, you can wash clean well under the running water. Pat dry with paper towels set aside. 

Stuff the chicken with half portion of red dates, garlics, ginseng and full portion of glutinous rice. To hold the contents in the chicken, make a deep vertical slit on the inner part of one drumstick, then insert the other leg through the cut. This way, you would not need to stitch or tie with kitchen yarn. If you do not have a korean clay pot, you can tie with yarn. 

Leave the chicken in the korean clay pot. The best way to cook korean ginseng chicken soup is to use korean clay pot, you can leave the pot directly on the stove for boiling the chicken soup, serve hot once is done. The clay pot would keep hot and is heated-proof till last drop of soup. 

Pour clear water or rice water (soak the normal cooking rice and use the water for soup base) in the korean clay pot, put rest of the red dates, garlics and ginseng.

Boil the water over high heat. Skim and discard fats that are floating, once boiled, turn down the heat to low heat. Cover your pot with lid, and continue to cook for about an hour.

Serve it hot with korean white rice or japanese white rice. For a simple and healthy meal, you can add on an organic fry veges dishes - my favourite to go with ginseng soup is either small pak choy or choy sum as side dishes. Lastly, just add sea salt & pepper, and garnish with green onions and gi-zhi (chinese herbs). This is a simple dish that everyone can learn how to cook this at home!

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