I had this Korean chicken soup in Seoul many years ago, I have made it maybe a couple of times before. In restaurants it's cooked and served in individual earthen pots, which means one chicken to a person. When I learned it was a whole chicken I asked one of the people I was travelling with to help me finish it but the chicken was super tiny and delicious I ended up eating the WHOLE thing, including the rice!
Young Gye Beck Sook
adapted from THE KOREAN KITCHEN by Copeland Marks
1 very small chicken or cornish game hen, about 1½ pounds
1/3 cup sweet rice, washed and drained
10 garlic cloves, peeled
2 pieces fresh ginseng, each 2 inches long
½ inch fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
5 jujubes (Korean dates)
5 whole chestnuts
2 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste
roasted chestnuts, dried Korean jujubes, garlic, ginger and fresh ginseng and sweet rice
- Rinse out the body cavity of the chicken with cold water. Sew up the neck part to seal in the ingredients. Stuff the chicken with the rice, 5 of the garlic cloves and ginseng. Sew up the opening.
- Put the chicken in a pot and add water just to the top of the chicken. Add the ginger, the other 5 garlic cloves, jujubes, chestnuts, and salt and bring to a boil over moderate heat. Skim off and discard foam, reduce heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 1 - 1½ hours. About halfway through the time, turn the chicken over to cook on the other side. Serve hot in a large tureen.
