September 17, 2018
A.C.E. / RECIPE
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 13
Cooking on deadline:
Korean Fried Chicken Tenders
By Katie Workman
The Associated Press
n cities around the country with large
Korean populations, you might find
Korean fried chicken wings. With
their shattery thin crust and lacquered
coating, they aren’t something you’re
likely to eat just once and then say, “Well,
that was satisfying, I’ll cross that off the
old bucket list.”
You’ll probably dream about them until
you eat them again.
But in these professional kitchens,
making these amazing wings is a bit more
arduous than we mere mortal home cooks
are willing to take on. They are batter-
dipped and then usually fried twice, which
I can’t rationalize in my home kitchen,
even during my most decadent moments.
So, I set out to make the whole thing
more home-kitchen friendly and slightly
healthier, or at least justifiable for a week-
night dinner. I used chicken tenders
instead of wings, and traded in the batter
for a dusting of seasoned flour. To get a
lightly crispy crust, I blended some rice
flour in with the all-purpose flour, but you
can use 100 percent all-purpose if that’s
what you have on hand.
The floured strips are pan-fried in a
moderate amount of oil and then, instead
I
#StarringJohnCho. This image released by Sony Pictures shows John Cho in Screen Gems’ thriller
Searching. Cho stars as a father trying to find his missing teenage daughter. The film has become a late summer
must-see propelled by strong reviews from critics and a warm afterglow following the successful launch of Crazy
Rich Asians. (Sebastian Baron/Sony Pictures via AP)
Computer-screen thriller
Searching transcends its gimmick
By Lindsey Bahr
AP Film Writer
OS ANGELES — If you think
Searching, a mystery about a
father looking for his missing
teenage daughter told only with
smartphone and computer screens, sounds
like a gimmick, don’t worry, you’re in good
company. Its star, John Cho, and director
and co-writer, Aneesh Chaganty, thought
so too initially. It wasn’t even a new
concept. The producer for Searching was
also behind the “screen thriller”
Unfriended, and wanted a follow-up that
used the same technique.
But even with its inauspicious
beginnings, the film has become a late
summer must-see propelled by strong
reviews from critics and a warm afterglow
following the successful launch of Crazy
Rich Asians, which has only bolstered
enthusiasm around Searching and its
Asian-American leads.
In its first weekend in limited release,
actress Karen Gillan hosted a free
screening of the film. Crazy Rich Asians
director Jon M. Chu and star Henry
Golding bought out a theater too. It made
an impressive $390,000 from nine
theaters, according to distributor Screen
Gems, and quickly expanded to 1,200
screens nationwide.
Chaganty laughs now about how he was
more than willing to walk away from a
chance to make his first feature just
because he didn’t buy into the ploy.
“I like good movies and I want to feel
emotional and I don’t want to give that up
to do something just because there’s an
opportunity,” Chaganty said. “It was a
gimmick. I had seen the other films that
took place on screens and I thought they
were gimmicks.”
But he and his co-writer and producing
partner Sev Ohanian decided to think
about it, and for two months raked their
brains for a way in. Then one day, they hit
gold. The film, they decided, would open
with a montage showing a young family of
three through the years told in digital
photo albums, videos, and calendar dates.
It is a slice of life tearjerker that has been
compared to the opening of Up. And,
perhaps most importantly, it makes you
care about David Kim (Cho) and his
daughter Margot (Michelle La).
It’s what got Cho on board, too, who was
put to the test in this role. For the most
part, Cho had to act opposite only a blank
computer screen and webcam.
“I don’t know how I did it, I was
bumbling my way through it really,” Cho
said. “It was weird, it was like acting in a
black box ... Several times on set I was like,
‘Aneesh can we please stop this webcam
business and let’s shoot the third act with a
L
bunch of cameras, real cameras and pop
out of it? Can we please?’”
According to Cho, Chaganty’s response
to this was, “John, shut up and act.”
While the concept may have been
frustrating to execute, the final product
and story is so seamless it almost makes
you forget that you’re watching a story
unfold through screens.
“After I saw the movie for the first time, I
(told Aneesh), ‘You have expanded the
vocabulary of cinema, and that is so
freaking hard to do,’” Cho said.
Searching, Cho said, is a kind of bookend
to Crazy Rich Asians and both are
necessary for advancing representation in
Hollywood movies.
“That’s an Asian specific story and this
one isn’t,” Cho said. “Those are two very
important things to say. One is, ‘We’re
going to tell our stories’ and the other is,
‘Don’t limit what our stories are.’”
Chaganty simply wanted an Asian-
American lead, and specifically Cho,
because those are the families he grew up
around in San Jose, California, where the
film is set. Other than that, there is no
story reason that necessitates that the
lead be any ethnicity.
“I grew up watching movies that I loved
that had nothing to do with race or culture
or addressing skin color that just didn’t
have people like me in it. Mission:
Impossible, the Bourne movies, the ones
that don’t have anything to do with that,”
Chaganty said. “We’ve become part of the
conversation because we’re the first ones
to do it in a thriller. It’s insane to me that
this is even a conversation. I hope people
look back on this and are like ‘I don’t get
how this is racially progressive.’”
The film’s opening and the enthusiasm
around it has also made Cho start to reflect
on progress. The 46-year-old Korean-
American actor’s name became its own
social media movement in 2016 when a
tech-savvy man, William Yu, started
photoshopping Cho into movie posters for
Hollywood blockbusters like Spectre along
with the hashtag #StarringJohnCho.
“I’ve been asked so much about it and it’s
kind of awkward. The common question is,
‘Did it work?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know!’
In a way, I was thinking it didn’t work
because they were like, ‘Oh he’s supposed
to be Captain America’ or something in
these big tent-pole movies. And while I
really appreciated that sentiment, I’m not
in any of these franchises. I’ve got my own,
but I’m not in any of those,” Cho said.
And yet, he also sees a silver lining. The
two movies he’s starred in since #Starring
JohnCho, Columbus and Searching, were
directed by Asian Americans and found
their own grassroots success.
“It’s an incredible story about what the
people can will to be,” Cho said.
CRISPY CHICKEN. Pictured is a serving of
Korean Fried Chicken Tenders, a recipe by Katie
Workman. (Photo/Lucy Beni via AP)
of being enveloped in a glaze, they are
served with a flavorful sauce designed to
be very lightly “drizzled” (it’s a thick sauce,
so sort of lightly dotted) over the tenders,
or just used as a dip.
Proceed with restraint as you determine
your threshold for heat. Gochujang is a
Korean hot chili pepper paste found at
some Asian markets. It’s also available
online. Or just grab the Sriracha or other
hot sauce. You don’t want to miss these.
Katie Workman has written two cookbooks
focused on easy, family-friendly cooking,
Dinner Solved! and The Mom 100 Cookbook.
Korean Fried Chicken Tenders
30 minutes start to finish
Serves 6
For the sauce:
5 gloves garlic
1 1/2-inch piece peeled ginger
1/3 cup less-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon Gouchujang paste or Sriracha sauce, or to taste
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
For the chicken:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup rice flour (or an additional 1/3 cup all-purpose flour)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil, as needed
2 pounds chicken tenders
Hot cooked rice to serve
In a blender or a food processor, finely mince the garlic and ginger. Add the soy
sauce, sugar, Gochujang or Sriracha, rice vinegar and sesame oil, and purée. Heat
the sauce in a small pot over medium-high heat for about five minutes until slightly
thickened. Stir in the lemon juice and set aside.
In a shallow bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, rice flour, salt, and pepper.
Line a plate with paper towels.
Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge
the chicken tenders in the seasoned flour mixture in batches, and cook them for
about three minutes on each side, until golden brown and cooked through. Be sure
they have space between them in the pan so that they brown nicely. Transfer them
to the paper towel-lined plate when they are cooked, and repeat until all of the
chicken is cooked.
Transfer the chicken to a platter and use a spoon to sprinkle some or all of the
thick sauce over it, or serve the sauce on the side for dipping.
Pass the rice and any remaining sauce.
Nutrition information per serving: 340 calories (118 calories from fat); 13 g fat (2
g saturated, 0 g trans fats); 110 mg cholesterol; 868 mg sodium; 16 g carbohydrate; 1
g fiber; 2 g sugar; 37 g protein.
Department of Consumer & Business Services
Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB):
What It Is and What It Does
A worker who disputes the outcome of his or her workers’ compensation claim for a work-
related injury or illness may request a hearing before the Hearings Division of the Workers’
Compensation Board. WCB offers mediation to workers and employers/insurers as an
alternative to hearings. If both parties agree to mediation, they may schedule by calling
(503) 934-0104. Workers who don’t speak English may use interpreter services provided
by WCB, for hearings and mediations. These services can be arranged by calling (503)
378-3308.
For questions about the hearing process, or the
Oregon’s workers’ compensation system, call the
Ombudsman for Injured Workers at 1-800-927-1271.
www.wcb.oregon.gov