Pyongyang-onban (Pyongyang Chicken Rice Soup)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large 5 to 6 quart soup pot
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Blender or stone grinder for mung beans
• •Wide skillet for pancakes
• •Wire rack
• •Deep soup bowls

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beans

   Cover the mung beans and the 1/4 cup rice with 3 inches of water and soak overnight, or at least 6 hours. The rice is not filler. It helps the pancake hold together without turning heavy, which matters when it sits in broth. Drain well before grinding.

2. 2

   Make the broth

   Put the chicken, 10 cups cold water, broth onion, 4 garlic cloves, ginger, scallion whites, peppercorns, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large pot. Bring slowly to a bare simmer, skimming the gray foam as it rises, then cook gently for 55 to 65 minutes, until the breast meat pulls away cleanly and the thigh is tender. A hard boil clouds the broth and toughens the meat. This bowl lives or dies by a clear chicken broth.

3. 3

   Strain and shred

   Lift out the chicken and strain the broth through a fine sieve. Let the chicken cool just until you can handle it, then pull the meat into fine shreds. Season the shredded chicken with 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 minced garlic clove, and a pinch of pepper. Taste it now. If the meat is bland before it meets the rice, the broth will not rescue it.

4. 4

   Clarify the broth

   Return 7 cups strained broth to the pot and keep it hot. Skim off visible fat, then season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. It should taste clean and lightly salted, a little less salty than soup you would eat alone, because the seasoned chicken, mushrooms, and yangnyeomjang finish the bowl. Save any extra broth for reheating leftovers.

5. 5

   Cook the mushrooms

   Warm 1 teaspoon oil in a small skillet. Add the mushrooms and cook 3 to 4 minutes, until they soften and give up their moisture. Season with 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Keep them separate from the chicken. Each topping should taste like itself before it joins the bowl.

6. 6

   Grind the pancake batter

   Grind the drained mung beans and soaked rice with 1/2 cup fresh water and 1/2 teaspoon salt until the batter is coarse, not perfectly smooth. Stir in the chopped blanched sprouts, onion, and rinsed kimchi if using. The batter should fall thickly from a spoon. Too much water makes a pancake that drinks oil and breaks in the soup.

   Rinse the kimchi if you use it. Pyongyang-onban is not a red, sour kimchi soup; the kimchi in the pancake should bring texture and a little brightness, not take over the broth.
7. 7

   Fry the pancakes

   Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wide skillet over medium heat. Spoon the batter into four pancakes, each about 4 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, until the edges are crisp and the centers are set. Drain on a rack, not paper if you can help it, so the underside stays crisp. Cut each pancake in half just before serving.

8. 8

   Make jidan garnish

   Beat the egg yolks with a pinch of salt and cook in a lightly oiled skillet as a thin yellow sheet. Repeat with the whites. Cool, then slice both into fine strips. This is not decoration for showing off. The pale broth needs small, careful color: yellow egg, white egg, dark gim, green scallion, brown mushroom.

9. 9

   Mix the sauce

   Stir together the yangnyeomjang: 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon minced scallion, 1 minced small garlic clove, 1 teaspoon gochugaru, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon sesame seeds. Serve it on the side. Let each person season the bowl at the table, because the broth should arrive clear and restrained.

10. 10

    Assemble the bowls

    Put 1 cup hot rice in each deep bowl. Lay shredded chicken over the rice, then mushrooms, jidan strips, gim, scallion greens, and half a mung-bean pancake. Ladle about 1 3/4 cups hot broth around the rice, not so much that the toppings drown. Scatter sesame seeds over the top and serve with yangnyeomjang. Write down your final salt amount. Memory is a borrowed bowl.

Chef Tips

• •Use a whole small chicken if you can. Bones, skin, and meat together give a broth with body, while boneless breast gives you a thin pot that tastes tired before it reaches the rice.
• •The mung-bean pancake is not optional in a proper Pyongyang-onban. You may make it earlier in the day and re-crisp it in a dry skillet, but do not replace it with flour pancake. That changes the dish.
• •Keep the broth pale. Gochugaru belongs in the yangnyeomjang on the side, not stirred into the pot. The table can season its own bowls, and the cook keeps the broth clean.
• •Leftover rice is acceptable only if you reheat it fully until soft and hot. Cold grains in hot broth stay hard at the center, and that is the kind of small carelessness a spoon finds immediately.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the mung beans and rice the night before. This is the one piece that cannot be rushed cleanly.
• •The chicken broth and shredded seasoned chicken can be made 1 day ahead. Chill them separately, lift off the hardened fat from the broth, and reheat gently before serving.
• •Mung-bean pancakes can be fried up to 6 hours ahead and held at room temperature. Re-crisp them in a dry skillet or a 180C oven for 8 to 10 minutes before they go on the bowl.
• •Do not assemble onban ahead. Rice, broth, toppings, and pancake should meet only at the end, or the rice swells and the pancake loses its edge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 1000g)