Ginseng Chicken {Samgyetang}
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1.5 hours
Serves 2
- 1 small chicken (take it out of the fridge around 1 hour before you cook it)
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
- 1 cup sticky glutinous rice (or you can use any kind of rice)
- 2 ginseng roots (Korean), 2 jujubes, 2 gingko nuts, small bundle milk vetch root (or one Samgyetang herbal tea kit*)
- 6-8 cups chicken stock (enough to almost cover the chicken)
- 2 green shallots, sliced
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the Samgyetang kit check out the Korean section of the Asian grocery store. Some herbal tea kits don't contain ginseng so be sure to read the packet. Both of the ones at my local store did and the only difference was whether they contained jujubes or red dates or not.
Step 1 - Place the chicken stock with the ginseng, jujubes, gingko nuts and milk vetch root and bring to a boil. Meanwhile stuff the chicken with 1/4 cup of the rice and the garlic cloves and tie closed. Place the additional 3/4 cup of rice in the pot and place the chicken on top and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low (1 out of 10) and simmer for 45 minutes.
Step 2 - Stir the rice at the bottom and then bring the heat back up to the boil and then turn down to 1 out of 10 heat and cook again at a really low simmer and cook for another 45 minutes. The chicken should be done by then. Sprinkle with green shallots and mix the sesame oil and salt and season the chicken. You can also add some grated fresh ginger although this is not a traditional Korean addition.