Hi there, hope everyone has a great weekend. Sorry for the lack of post(s) these few weeks because; firstly I was away for vacation and secondly it is also the mid-year school holiday in Singapore so eventually I am spending more time with my kid rather than updating my blog.
Here to continue with my Korean Cooking Project, I would like to share with you another recipe similar to Ginseng Chicken Soup(Samgyetang) with a sightly different ingredients plus using "steaming method".
STEAMED CHICKEN WITH GINSENG
(Jjim Dak - 찜닭)
(Jjim Dak - 찜닭)
Jjim Dak(찜닭) or Dak Jjim which also known as "Korean Steamed Chicken" is something similar to our Chinese Steamed Herbal Chicken. But in this recipe the only herbs used are Dried Ginseng and Red Dates which after all bring up the flavorsome taste of the chicken which infused from the ginseng. This dish is prepared using Happy Call Pan(HCP) which acts as a pressure cooker to gently simmer the chicken till tender and as the same time trap the flavour of all the ingredients used. (don't worry if you don't have any HCP you can always used a normal steamer for this dish)
Recipe adapted from "the food of Korea" by Injoo Chun, Jaewoon Lee and etc
(Serves: 2-3 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 30 minutes)
Ingredients:
1/2 Portion of Chicken, about 600g
300ml of Water
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
2 - 3 Pieces of Dried Ginseng
8 Fresh Peeled Chestnuts
2 Medium Potato, cut into chunks
4 Big Red Dates
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Slices Ginger
3 Stalks Spring Onion, cut into sections
Method:-1. Rinse dried ginseng with water before soaking it in a bowl of warm water for about 20 - 30 till it is slightly soften. Cut it into 2 - 3 sections.
2. Trim and rinse the chicken, pat dry with paper towels and rub 1/2 teaspoon of salt all over it and set aside.
3. Arrange some spring onion and ginseng on the HCP (around the middle area), place the prepared chicken(skin side facing upwards) on top and scatter the rest of the dry ingredients around the chicken, add water and salt.
4. Close and LOCK the HCP and simmer the chicken on low heat for about 30 - 40 minutes or till meat is tender when using chopsticks to poke through the thigh area.
5. During the cooking process you can open the HCP and check the water level every 10 - 15 minutes if you are worried about the sauce being evaporated. (for me I opened it twice on the 15 and 25 minutes, you can also add in a little more water if the sauce evaporates)
6. Serve chicken on the HCP or cut it into serving pieces.
So if you like the taste of ginseng and you are looking for some comfort food to nourish our body systems, perhaps you would like to try this 1 Pot Dish which consists of quiet a number of nutritious ingredients for your body. And moreover adding potato in this herbal chicken helps to give it a starchy gravy and it could also be served as a meal itself without having extra cooked rice too.