Really, my kids are pretty obsessed with popcorn. I make a giant potful at least once a week, often more, and they destroy it utterly before we finish the movie we're watching. I like good popcorn, but thought it would be fun to play with it. I started first with just sprinkling a little paprika on top, and that was pretty nice. I get smoked paprika from Penzey's, and that was even better, and regular chili powder was also ok. All of these were missing some zing, though, and I couldn't figure out what to do until I had a snow cone from a stand downtown.
The stand makes Hawaiian style shave ice, and I ordered their fresh mango. It was awesome, but what made it transformative was that they asked, "Chile on that?" and I was all, "Why not?" They put some kind of chili-limey-salty stuff on top, and in between thoughts of , "MMMMM!" I also thought, "This is what I need on my popcorn."
So this is they key to spicy popcorn:
I do not know exactly what's in it, and I'm not sure I want to know. It's chiles and spices and citric acid, though, and it's delicious. It's easy to find in Texas at Fiesta grocery stores, but I bet in other places you can find it in whatever your Central American section/market is. If not, I will gladly send you some. PS--this stuff is generally awesome. As the name suggests, you can sprinkle it on sweet juicy fruits (I really like it on mangos and watermelon), and I bet you could make some other-worldly chocolate stuff. But for now, here's how I make spicy popcorn:
Start with a big, heavy pot and put it over medium-high-ish heat (about a 6, I guess).
Put three tablespoons of coconut oil in the bottom. If you don't have or want to use coconut oil, safflower and canola also work for me, but I like coconut the best.
Put three kernels of popcorn in the bottom and let the whole thing get hot, giving it an occasional shake, until all three kernels pop. Fish out the popped kernels, dump in 1/2 cup of fresh popcorn, and hold the pot by the handle and shake it for a few seconds until you hear some good sizzling in there.
Dump in 1/3 cup of sugar. You can use unrefined or white sugar, but full-on brown sugar doesn't work that well, and I think succanat wouldn't really either. Either shake the pot super vigorously to distribute the sugar, or give it a quick stir, but be careful to not destroy yourself with hot popcorn. Quickly pop on a lid, leaving a little room for steam to escape, and let the popcorn pop, giving the pot a little shake every few minutes.
You'll know the popcorn is done when you've got two or three seconds between pops. Take off the lid, dump the popcorn into a big bowl, and sprinkle your steaming hot popcorn with lots of chile para fruta. Stir to distribute the spices, and keep sprinkling until it looks all spicy. Then eat a bunch of it and share it with friends. It is not called spicy popcorn for nothing, folks, so also grab a giant glass of limeade or a margarita to cool you off.
So I don't believe in microwave popcorn; it's cool if you do, though. I bet you could just sprinkle Chile Para Fruta on top of whatever popcorn you've got and it would rule, but this is how I like it, and I promise it's not hard. I also think that if you can't get your hands on some chile para fruta, you could melt some butter, add some lime juice and zest, and dump that over the popcorn, then sprinkle some good chili powder and paprika on top, and that would be pretty awesome.
No, I didn't take a picture of the finished popcorn, I ate it all in about 3 seconds. That's how good it is. I bet you can't get a picture of it, either. It's like the Loch Ness Monster of deliciousness.
This is fantastic! I thought I commented that sooner but somehow I must not've. Glad I decided to read through again. Also, I love your floors. And your marble! SOOOOO PRETTTTTY.
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