Korean recipes:
Ginseng chicken soup (samgyetang)
Sam gye tang (Ginseng chicken soup)
Ingredients:
Small chicken (Cornish hen), 1/4 cup of sweet rice, a dozen cloves of garlic, green onions, a few jujubes, and 1 or 2 small ginseng roots.
- Wash and rinse your chicken in cold running water.
- Soak 1/4 cup of sweet rice for 1 hour.
- Stuff the chicken with the sweet rice, a ginseng root, a few jujubes, and 3-4 cloves of garlic. Place it in a pot.
- Pour water into the pot and boil it over high heat for 20 minutes. When it starts boiling, skim off any foam and fat that rises to the surface Then pour in more water and boil it over medium heat for 40 minutes.
- When it cooks properly, the chicken will be easily pulled apart by chopsticks.
- Serve it with salt and pepper and kimchi or kaktugi.
fantastic video!! sam gye tang looks sooo simple (and yummy) to make :) i’m definately gonna try this recipe out at home.
p.s. hope you have been well :)
October 14th, 2007 at 11:27 pmHi,Deborah,
October 15th, 2007 at 4:51 amGood to hear from you!
Since I met you last time, I sometimes have been thinking about you, especially when I make some special food. I just think, “Deborah may like to learn this.” : )
Next time I make my kimchi, I will let you know through e-mail.
Maangchi,
I would love to make this soup - however, I wouldn’t know where to buy the ginseng. I live close to Toronto, Canada - can you suggest any shops?
Thanks!
October 16th, 2007 at 8:37 pmI usually go to a korean store located west of bloor and bathurst. The closest subway is Christie or Bathurst. You can ask people where a korean grocery store is. There are 3 or 4 grocery stores there.
October 26th, 2007 at 4:57 pmI bought the fresh ginseng there.
Or when you come down to Toronto, let me know via email, then I will find a time to help you get it.
Thanks,
I saw packages of tiny roots of Korean ginseng available at a Korean store for $15.99 USD per pound.
I wonder if I can use these hair like little roots to subsitude the actual body of ginseng for the sam gae tang.
December 9th, 2007 at 12:11 amagasuka,
December 9th, 2007 at 1:11 amYes, I think it will be ok. Why don’t you ask the owner of the store if you can buy a good looking ginseng? : ) I paid $ 10.00for 3 or 4 roots of ginseng here.
I wish to try fresh ginseng, it is not available here. (There’s Hong Sam red ginseng root available for 19.99/lb)
I made the Sam gye tang with dried ginseng root hair but it was a failure.
Since you used 4 thick fresh ginseng, so I added 2/3 cup of dried ginseng root hair, however, it became way too bitter, as the tiny ginseng roots enlarged after cooking, it was almost 2 cups. I had to added a lot of water and green onions to cover up the overwhelmed ginseng taste, on the other hand, the taste of chicken was diluted.
Lesson learned:
Do not add too much ginseng.
Interesting facts that I’d like to share:
Maybe it was a late supper…
Maybe I was very tired…
Maybe it was the power of the amazing ginseng…
After having the “Super” ginseng soup, I felt very sleepy, and I had a very nice sleep that night right after the meal. :)
The other person who had my super soup felt warm current inside his chest after tasting the soup.
December 17th, 2007 at 12:56 amHi,agasuka,
December 17th, 2007 at 7:10 amYour lesson sounds like poem!
The soup seemed to be medicine instead of a meal. : )
Sorry to hear about your failure.
Anyway thank you for sharing your story even though it was failure.
“Don’t use much ginseng for samgyetang”!
Hey Maangchi!
April 21st, 2008 at 2:46 pmI made this soup a little while ago and my mom and brother LOVED it and it was gone before the day was over. Thanks so much for posting these recipes! :)
denise,
April 21st, 2008 at 5:38 pmwow, congratulaion!
Hi Maangchi,
I like to know if I can substitute the ginseng root with Ginseng powder?
Thanks,
July 9th, 2008 at 8:11 amHi,
July 10th, 2008 at 7:56 amI never use ginseng powder in sam gye tang. fresh ginseng is good. If you have to use the ginseng powder, use only 1 or 2 ts. If you put it too much, the soup will be thick.
This is so beautiful! Do you have recipes for more similar soups? Thanks maangchi.
August 24th, 2008 at 4:22 amcatherine,
August 24th, 2008 at 7:24 amHow about the recipe I posted radish soup with beef. I strongly recommend it. I posted it when I made stuffed cucumber kimchi (oisobagi)
http://www.maangchi.com/recipes/oisobagi-kimchi
Hi Maangchi,
Is it alright to replace sweet rice with normal rice?
Thanks,
September 4th, 2008 at 12:40 amMerilyn
merilyn,
September 4th, 2008 at 5:17 amYes, you can. Thank you!
Hi Maangchi,
September 30th, 2008 at 12:21 pmI don’t cook Korean food very much at all as I don’t know how and due to where I live it’s hard to get hold of some or most ingredients!!
But I have been watching yr videos which inspired me to cook and I am now cooking Sam Gye Tang without ginseng which is the most important ingredient, the broth taste amazing and can’t wait the finished result!! Just wanted to thank you for making me to cook!! My b/f will be pleased!! :)
Take care.. xx
Jiyoon Kim,
September 30th, 2008 at 5:30 pmCongratulation on you successful chicken soup making! You made “dak jook” instead of “samgyetang”. Dak jook (chicken soup) is also really good. Some people who don’t like ginseng taste prefer dak jook to samgytang.
Put lots of garlic in chicken soup. : )
“gyeran jjim” is very easy to make it even though you don’t cook often.
Hi Maangchi
I was just wondering, does it have to be ginsens root or can you just use ginseng itself?
October 9th, 2008 at 5:51 pmLaLa,
October 9th, 2008 at 5:59 pm? ginseng is root, right? ; )
Use fresh ginseng.
Hello Maangchi! Your blog is so awesome! I learnt so much from looking at your recipes. Loving this! I was trying to find a recipe for Gamjatang, I wonder if you’d have it. My Mom loves it, so I’d like to make some for her. Thank you! Keep up this site! =D
October 14th, 2008 at 1:49 amDoris,
October 14th, 2008 at 6:34 amsure gamjatang!, it’s already in the list of my upcoming cooking videos. Thank you!
Hello Maangchi! Thank you for replying! I’ll be waiting for that one to be up. Today I made the Sweet Soybean SideDish! I Love it! came out just as I expected! Thank YOU!
October 15th, 2008 at 12:12 amDoris,
October 15th, 2008 at 6:03 amThank you for your update! Wonderful!
Hi Maangchi! Can any dates be used in this recipe or just jujubes? How can you tell if jujubes are ripe? I bought some from my local market a few weeks ago and they were hard as rocks but smelled awful!
October 16th, 2008 at 2:52 amLiz,
October 16th, 2008 at 6:48 amyes, just jujubes that’s what I use in “samgyetang”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jujube
check the dried red jujube picture on the page.
Good quality of jujube is red, wrinkly, and sweet. You can eat it as it is.
hi maangchi!!!! love your site… what is sweet rice? i wonder if that is the same as sticky rice…thanks!!!
October 31st, 2008 at 10:28 amchicahay,
October 31st, 2008 at 5:48 pmYes, it’s glutinous rice. If you don’t have it, you can replace it with plain short-grain rice (rice for sushi).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutinous_rice
hi…… i made this one yesterday and it taste great!!!!!!
whats the difference of the red ginseng and the white one? can i use the dried red ginseng in this soup?
November 7th, 2008 at 3:52 pmarmie,
November 8th, 2008 at 1:31 amred ginseng is better quality than white ginseng. Yes, you can use it in samgyetang.
When I lived in Korea, whenever I felt a cold coming on, I went to Ajumma’s restaurant and order SamGaeTung. It is great for clearing the sinuses and I always felt better after having it. I can’t totally attest that it got rid of my cold, but I honestly believe it made it less severe, if I caught it in time.
When I had it in Korea, it had a prune inside instead of jubejubes.
This is a great meal on a cold winter night or when you’re feeling under the weather.
November 24th, 2008 at 1:26 amCathy,
I found an interesting article about samgyetang on the internet. Check this out.
“Samgyetang is an ideal body energizing food made of chicken, which is rich in protein and essential amino acids, and ginseng (or “panax” in scientific parlance), known since ancient times as a cure for many diseases.
It is an outstanding stamina-improving food with well-balanced nutrients from ginseng, glutinous rice, jujube and chestnut.
According to the “Donguibogam,” a famous Oriental Science Medicine book, “ginseng in samgyetang strengthens the heart’s functions; garlic plays the role of a body energizer; chestnut and jujube protect the stomach and prevent anemia; and pumpkin seeds prevent parasites.”
http://english.kbs.co.kr/life/trend/1358077_11857.html
November 24th, 2008 at 8:34 amI am so glad to have discovered your blog. You are my cooking hero. We swapped places - you in Canada, me in Korea.
November 27th, 2008 at 5:00 am