Cooking Adventures

We found this recipe on the Facebook group, Instant Pot Korean recipes, and we made some modifications:

Ingredients:

For soup: 1 medium whole chicken (we used 2 bone-in, skin-on quarters and 2 bone-in, skin on breasts, about 5 lb total), 3 scallions (trimmed but otherwise whole), 1 garlic bulb (about 10-12 cloves, skin removed); and about 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper.

For yangnyum sauce:  soy sauce, sesame oil, crushed red pepper flakes (no seeds), and garlic powder (see Note 2 below).

For garnish (and yangnyum):  2-3 scallions, chopped.  

First, place chicken, 3 scallions, garlic and crack some pepper in the pot and pour water to cover chicken. Make sure to cover whole chicken (but see Note 1 below). Seal the top and start the heat. Once pressure reaches high, cook for 15 mins.  At the end of 15 mins, turn off the heat and let the pressure cooker reduce on natural release for 10 mins.  At the end of 10 mins, if the pressure hasn’t fully released by then, use manual release. Remove the chicken and scallions, pull the meat off the bones (I prefer using a pair of forks), and discard the bones and scallions (you can leave the garlic cloves in the broth).  Mix the chicken meat with yangnyum sauce (see Note 2 below), tossing in about half of the chopped scallions.  Finally, season the soup with salt and pepper according to taste.

To serve, in a bowl put some rice, broth, then add the seasoned chicken, and garnish with some remaining chopped scallions. Serve with salt and pepper.

Note 1: According to pressure cooking guidelines, you should never fill the pressure cooker pot more than halfway with liquid:  https://www.dummies.com/food-drink/cooking/pressure-cooker/pressure-cookers-for-dummies-cheat-sheet (see “Don’t over do the liquid”).   However, we have found that this soup can be safely made by simply not exceeding the “max fill” line, which is 2/3 full (not ½ full). If you can’t do this with a whole chicken, consider cutting the chicken into smaller pieces (such as in quarters and breasts), which can fit into the pressure cooker at a lower height than a whole chicken.

Note 2:  “Yangnyum” refers to a simple mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes that typically is used to season meats accompanying a mildly seasoned soup.  For 5 lb cooked chicken, the yangnyum mixture will be about 3 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil, 2 tsp Korean red pepper flakes (no seeds), and 1 tsp garlic powder.  The seasoning is according to taste, so these measurements are approximate.