Jewish Penicillin Korean Style

Went to have my hair dried last week and was introduced to a new member of the hair salon. Her name is Kim and she does facials and other beauty treatments there. Since she is from Korea, we started chatting and I told her that I had been to Seoul many times and always enjoyed it tremendously. She asked me if I liked Korean food and I told her that it was a staple for us when I lived in NY. That my kids used to walk from their Manhattan apartment to Little Korea and enjoy all sorts of delicious food and even more when our friend John Kim was in charge of the ordering!

Of course she asked what my favorite was and I told her the story of when we were in Seoul at a restaurant and Goose was catching a cold and feeling stuffed up so I asked the waiter if they had a little plain chicken soup. He said "of course, I'll bring some." And he did and it was a whole enormous platter of chicken with rice and some sea salt and other condiments to go with it. It was sort of swimming on a broth, which I suppose is what he meant by chicken soup. I had a little cup in mind.

Well, I tasted it and fell madly in love with the dish which is called Sam Ge Tang and is usually eaten in the summer! You know the belief that when you eat something warm in high temperatures it makes you feel cooler? Well, I guess that's part of the appeal but the Koreans feel that with all the ginseng is has it is healing and fortifying. Who knew...

In any event, went back this week and there was Kim with a bag of the ingredients that go in the soup! All I needed to get was a cornish hen. I suppose you can also use a regular sized chicken for more people. So I told her I'd put the recipe in our family blog as soon as I made it.

Go to you friendly Korean grocery (or Asian in general I suppose) and get a package of Sam Ge Tang. That's what its called. Follow the instructions which involve stuffing the bird with rice, ginseng and dates which are included, sewing the cavities and bringing it to a boil on high and then reducing the heat and leaving it boiling for an hour. Et voila! I will serve it with chopped spring onions, sea salt, pepper and those delicious little green chilies I bought in Singapore. By the way, I added some lemon juice once I fished the chicken out of the pot.

Thank you Kim, it was so sweet of you to give me such a lovely present. Now our whole family will be able to cook it with confidence and keep cool and healthy during the Summer!