Korean Pyongyang Onban (Rice in Clear Chicken Broth)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 75 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 2 servings
- Ingredients
- 7
About this dish
Pyeongyang-onban is a North Korean-style warm rice soup in which steamed rice is submerged in clear chicken broth and topped with shredded chicken and sliced shiitake mushrooms.
Read more
The chicken simmers with garlic and green onion for forty-five minutes, producing a clean, golden stock that is strained for clarity before use. The cooked meat is pulled into strips and set aside, while shiitake slices steep in the broth for five minutes to add an earthy dimension without muddying the liquid. Rice goes into the bowl first, followed by the hot broth and the chicken garnish, with salt as the sole seasoning. No fermented pastes, chili, or bold spices are used, which means the dish stands entirely on the quality of the stock itself. Onban was traditionally served as a breakfast dish in Pyongyang, and the deliberate restraint in seasoning makes it one of the gentler, more stomach-friendly preparations in the Korean rice soup tradition. A long, unhurried simmer is what separates a flat broth from one with real depth.
Ingredients
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Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Prep
Do not rinse the 700 g of chicken; wipe away bone fragments and blood clots with paper towels.
Thinly slice 80 g of shiitake and prepare the scallion and 6 garlic cloves.
- 2Control
Place the chicken, 1600 ml water, green onion, and garlic in a pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Once foam rises, skim it off carefully to prevent a cloudy broth.
- 3Control
Lower the heat and simmer gently for 45 minutes.
Keep the liquid barely moving rather than rolling hard, so the chicken flavor deepens while the stock remains clean and clear.
- 4Step
Lift out the chicken and let it cool just until easy to handle, then shred it along the grain.
Strain the broth to remove the green onion, garlic, and loose bits, then return it to the pot.
- 5Control
Add the sliced shiitake to the clear broth and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes.
When the mushrooms soften and perfume the broth, season first with 1 teaspoon salt.
- 6Finish
Divide the 2 cups of rice evenly among bowls.
Pour in the hot broth and shiitake, top with the chicken, and serve immediately.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Pyeongyang-onban submerges shredded chicken and rice in clear, 45-minute poultry broth.
- Finish cue
- Divide the 2 cups of rice evenly among bowls.
- Avoid this
- Do not rinse the 700 g of chicken; wipe away bone fragments and blood clots with paper towels.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official cooking and food safety guidance.
This recipe
75min, 7 ingredients
Category median
40min, 8 ingredients
Based on 309 recipes
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