Korean Summer Food: Samgyetang

This isn’t the first time I’m going to post something about samgyetang. In the summer, we have what’s called “복날” (bok-nal) or “dog days” which are the three hottest days of summer. First is “초복” (cho-bok”) which falls on July 14th this year. The second one is “중복” (jung-bok) on July 24th and lastly, “말복” (mal-bok) which is on August 13th. On these days, we usually have samgyetang (chicken ginseng) or boshintang (dog meat stew) for stamina or to survive the hot days. There is no proven medical claim to having these food during these days, but they are considered Korean summer food.
On Friday last week, I bought four spring chicken instead of going to the restaurant for samgyetang. Each chicken was 3,500 won. I also bought a pack of the roots, wood and glutinous rice needed to cook the chicken.

I got the pack of roots for 4,800 won at Homeplus, a supermarket chain.

I first boiled five liters of water with the soup pack for 30 minutes with about a tablespoon of salt. I stuffed the cavity of the chicken with the glutinous rice, two segments of garlic and two jujube. I put in the four stuffed chickens in the pot and boiled it for about 40 minutes.

Samgyetang is one of my favorite Korean dishes. It’s hot but I feel refreshed and energized after a meal ;p

You can also try this at home!