Popcorn for Dinner

So... After several cooking failures last weekend I had another failed cooking fiasco last Monday:



This was supposed to be a lovely Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake for my roommate's birthday but, as you can see, it didn't work out that way. After a very messy 1/2 hour scrubbing the sticky, burnt mess off of the oven baking racks, I threw a small tantrum and decided my kitchen and I needed a break from one another. So lunches last week were freezer leftovers and dinner was popcorn.

I really do love popcorn and although I don't usually eat as much of it as I did last week, I eat it and enjoy it regularly enough to share my "recipe" with you. I don't know if this really qualifies as a recipe, but it is the very particular way that I like my popcorn. I did not make this up. One of my roommates, Samantha, makes it this way and got us all forever hooked on it when we moved in together 3 years ago.

Popcorn Popper of some kind (Air popper or oil popper)
Dry popcorn kernels
Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce or Tabasco Sauce
Butter and salt to taste

I am not dainty about my popcorn eating and like to make about a 1/4 cup of dry kernels just for myself (maybe even a 1/3 cup if it is my whole dinner). This makes a pretty decent sized bowl. My generally healthy-eating self abandons ship when it comes to butter on my popcorn. I LOVE butter! I rarely eat the real stuff anymore, but I found a great substitute called Earth Balance that works beautifully on popcorn (and everything else for that matter). Whether you do real butter or a substitute, I like to do 2 parts kernels to 1 part butter. So if I use 1/4 cup of kernels, I will melt 1/8 cup of butter.

Pop the popcorn. Melt the butter. And now, for the secret ingredient. Add a few drops of Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce to the butter and mix well before pouring over popcorn. If you like the spice, add more. Otherwise just a few drops adds a nice, subtle, warm, garlicly, sweet chili flavor and it is WONDERFUL!

** If you don't have Sriracha sauce, regular Tabasco sauce is good too, although I am partial to the former. I am not sure if regular grocery stores carry the Sriracha sauce, but Cost Plus World Market has it and I am pretty sure that Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage carries it as well.

I can feel my kitchen tantrum wearing off and I should be back to cooking later this week. But I am heading off as we speak to make one last popcorn dinner.

Happy Easter!