Ginseng & Chicken Soup 人参鸡汤

Ginseng & Chicken Soup 人参鸡汤

Recipe source :  Doris Choo @ Sumptuous Flavours

I have a box of ginseng roots which has been sitting in my refrigerator for sometime now. It was a lovely gift. However, we were not too sure of its strength or the potency of these little roots for fear of ending up "over-heating" our bodies. I decided to ask the herbal shop proprietor. He advised that I should add in some red dates, wolfberries and some Solomon's seal or "yook chuk" in Cantonese. According to him, the addition of these herbs will counter the "heaty" properties of the ginseng root.

After boiling for three hours we have a pot of very nutritious ginseng soup. The yook chuk had imparted a natural sweetness to the soup.

We are glad that we did not feel any "over-heating" after the addition of Solomon's seal to brew this very nutritious soup.

Ingredients

1 small dried ginseng root
1/2 stewing chicken (old hen) cut into two large pieces
1 tbsp wolfberries, or kei-chi
6 red dates, pitted
30g Solomon's seal or yook chuk
2.5 litres water
1 1/2 tsp salt

 A gift set of ginseng roots

 It's sufficient to use only 1 small root 

 Left :  red dates. Middle : Solomon's seal or yook chuk. Right :  wolfberries

Method

1.  Bring 2.5 litres of water to a boil
2.  Add in all the Chinese herbs, ginseng root and stewing chicken.
3.  Once it comes to a boil again, reduce to small flame and continue to boil for 3 hours.
4.  Add in salt and switch off flame.
5.  Ready to serve.

Ginseng Roots - How to store them

Ginseng Roots - How to store them

I have had these old ginseng roots which my late mother-in-law had bought. She had stored them in jars and left them on the shelves where it remained for a long time. 

The other day I brought down the jar to check on the roots. They were very hard, in fact too hard for my kitchen knives to slice. I had to asked for assistance from the shop proprietor selling Chinese herbs to help me cut them into slices.He assured me that the quality of the ginseng roots is still good and to use them sparingly i.e. in small doses in soups and stews as the herbal properties of ginseng is very potent. 

Since I have so many pieces of ginseng roots left, I looked up on its herbal properties. The Chinese herbal books said that ginseng retards ageing and strengthens the immune system. It is good for circulation, improves "qi" and have the power to improve the mental capacity of a person.

The herbal books further cautioned that we consume ginseng only in small doses as over consumption of ginseng may bring about side effects like high blood pressure, insomnia, headache and a rise in body temperature.

Top : ginseng root

Bottom left : ginseng slices. 

Bottom right : odd bits and pieces which can be used

How to store ginseng roots

1.  Dry-fry a bowl of rice grains in a clean pan or wok until the grains turned yellowish.

2.  Remove from pan or wok and cool the fried rice grains thoroughly.

3.  Ensure the fried rice grains are totally cooled down.

4.  Place the ginseng roots into a jar and pour in the cooled down rice grains.

5. You need to change the fried rice grains on a yearly basis i.e. pour away the old grains and fry another fresh batch of rice grains to store the ginseng roots.

Note :  

1.  This is an effective way of storing ginseng roots. 

2.  A method handed down by both my late mother and my late mother-in-law. 

3.  Actually, the shop proprietor who sliced the roots for me, taught me the same storage method.

 This is how I stored them : in rice grains which had been pan-fried in a dry wok.

These are the remaining stock which have been in storage for close to 20 years.

Ginseng Chicken Soup ( Samgyetang 삼계탕 )

Ginseng Chicken Soup ( Samgyetang 삼계탕 )

Recipe source : Adapted from Maangchi 

I used a dried ginseng root to make this famous Korean Samgyetang. I reckon I cannot follow Maangchi's method which calls for the use of a fresh ginseng root, strictly because fresh ginseng is not available. So I need to boil the dried ginseng to soften it first before using it. If I were to stuff the dried ginseng root into the chicken cavity directly, the root will remain hard and uncooked, while the chicken becomes soft and tender. Then the goodness of the ginseng root will not be released into the chicken and soup.

The aroma of ginseng was rather strong during the cooking process and there was an instance where the flavour of garlic was strong as well. But it was only for a short while. 

The end result? The soup was richly  flavoured by the ginseng root and the chicken. 

Ingredients

1 chicken

1/4 cup glutinous rice

10 cloves garlic

3 red dates

1 ginseng root

 2 litres water.

Top picture: First row :Ginseng root

Second row :Red dates

Third row : Garlic

Bottom picture : Soaked glutinous rice

Method

1.  Soak 1/4 cup of glutinous rice for a few hours.
2.  Place ginseng root in a pot, add water to boil until the root turns soft.  
3.  Stuff chicken with glutinous rice, red dates, garlic and the softened ginseng root.
4.  Place the stuffed chicken into the ginseng soup and throw in the remaining garlic into the soup and boil over rapid fire for 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
5.  Serve with salt and pepper.

 

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest  : Korea

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