Organic Homemade Popcorn

I love popcorn. To me, Popcorn has this magical way of making me happy like a little child. Even now when I am home with my parents, and we go out, I still like to beg my Dad to buy me popcorn. It’s tradition: I beg for popcorn. Mom says no. Dad goes to buy after some deliberation. I’m all smiles. All of us munch on popcorn together gleefully. Ahh… Other than those happy moments, the only time I can enjoy eating popcorn is when I go to the movies. Sadly popcorn at cinemas are so overpriced and drenched in oil and sugar that I only dare to get it for really big blockbusters. But guess what, I won’t be buying popcorn the next time I’m watching a movie, cos I can make it myself now!! It is so simple that I wonder why I’ve never bothered making it before. Home made popcorn are so healthy because you can choose how much to flavour them, and use your own butter instead of the butter oil they use in microwave popcorns or at the cinemas. And they taste much better too. Popcorn takes on the butter taste very well, and you don’t have to drench it in butter or sugar. Just a hint of butter, salt and sugar and you have yourself a great bowl of healthy snack for DVDs or American Idol (I did read somewhere that popcorn is one of the lowest fat snacks!). And it’s just so fun to hear the popping sounds under the lid in the pan. It’s such a kick!

For this homemade popcorn, I used organic popping corn (dry corn kernels) and followed Mark Bittman’s recipe. Well it’s really simple so I don’t think you’re gonna have to take down this recipe. Just have fun looking at the pictures!

Organic Homemade Popcorn (adapted from “How To Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons corn oil
• 1/2 cup popping corn (organic)
• 2 tablespoons butter (low fat version) or 4 tablespoons butter (full flavor version). I went for low fat.
• Salt and caster brown sugar for flavouring

Can you believe such beautiful popcorn can come out of this?

METHOD:

1. Put the oil in a large and deep pan or wok with a lid. At medium heat, add 3 kernels of corn and cover.

2. When the 3 kernels pop, add the remaining corn and shake the wok with the lid on. Very soon you will start to hear popping sounds and feel the corn burst against the lid. It’s so amusing to me! Shake the wok occasionally and cook until the popping sound stops. Meanwhile melt the butter in a microwave.

3. Remove the popcorn into a big bowl. Drizzle the melted butter over and toss with salt and sugar to taste. Depending on your taste, you can make saltier or sweeter popcorn. I like a balance mixture of both. And I always prefer brown sugar flavour to white sugar. No caramel popcorn for me. That’s just overkill.

Whoever  that’s watching Iron Man 2 or Sex and The City 2 with me next is gonna enjoy this awesome homemade popcorn in a tupperware! (I hope people from Golden Village cinema is not reading this haha). I know, sounds unglam but trust me, once you’ve tasted fresh homemade popcorn and find out how cheap it is to make (a few dollars for a pack of corn that would yield more than 10 batches of popcorn), you will never want to buy popcorn outside again!