A vegan spin on a favorite Korean comfort food

Mission Chinese version of samgyetang inspired by squash

Picture samgyetang, the soothing Korean soup. If you’ve had it before, you’re probably envisioning a whole small chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, jujubes, chestnuts and ginseng bobbing in steaming-hot broth.

Now picture it without the soup. And without the chicken. The result may sound bleak but it’s actually the best part: the stuffing.

Danny Bowien, the chef behind San Francisco’s pioneering Mission Chinese Food, turned samgyetang into a vegan re-imagination worthy of a holiday centerpiece by focusing on that sensational stuffing and putting it in a whole winter squash.

The recipe, found in his new cookbook with JJ Goode, “Mission Vegan: Wildly Delicious Food for Everyone,” is a great find for families looking for a vegan main dish for their Thanksgiving table this year — or for those who simply want to shake up routine. Chronicle food critic Soleil Ho loved the dish, saying it “hit the savory-sweet balance that you look for in a great stuffing” and “captures the intriguing soft-chewy texture of samgyetang chicken (without the chicken).”

Bowien keeps the glutinous rice and ginseng but swaps out the traditional jujubes and chestnuts for caramelly dates, umami-rich dried shiitake mushrooms and crunchy roasted cashews. Then he dollops on cashew cream for a velvety finish.The most delicate part of the operation is when you need to flip the roasted squash halves over with the sticky rice stuffing still inside — just do it with confidence, and you’ll be fine.

From “Mission Vegan: Wildly Delicious Food for Everyone” by Danny Bowien with JJ Goode. Copyright 2022 by Danny Bowien. Excerpted by permission of Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.