Salt, sweet, and spiced popcorn

One of the things I'm addicted to is popcorn so I couldn't pass up this week
of Hive top chef which has a theme of popcorn.

I haven't eaten popcorn in years that I didn't put seasonings on since I last went to a movie theatre. That is the only reason I ever went. I ate the popcorn then fell asleep. Mostly when Marc dragged me to see Star Wars. Great movie to nap to. Well Lord Of the Rings was pretty good for napping as well.

I have learned to eat popcorn spiced up from going to Mexico and staying there for six months the last time I was there. I never passed up the opportunity to buy a bag of popcorn from the popcorn person on the beach. When you get this popcorn you're always asked if you want chilly on it. I always wanted it.

I usually use hot sauce and vegan butter, or olive oil but this time I decided to go into a South Asian kind of taste because of their tendency to blend sweet and savory along with hot chilies which I love. Why not try this with a popcorn base.

Part of the mix was a pinch of garlic powder, onion powder, ginger powder, ground up dried chilies, ground up roasted peanuts and cane sugar, three tablespoons plantbased butter (you could use oil instead), a splash of lime juice, a splash of rice wine vinegar, a tablespoon of Braggs liquid aminos. I started with a couple of teaspoons of sugar then added a bit more later. When everything was well combined I added a pinch of baking soda and stirred then pour it on the popcorn.

I let the sugar melt first not stirring then added the rest of the ingredients. Then the baking soda.

The popcorn was done in a big pot. I used to have an air popper which I loved so much. It always made perfect popcorn but I gave it away when we went to Mexico years ago. I never got a new one.

The basic way I do it is to heat up a pot with oil on the bottom then add one kernel. I've seen people adding all of the kernels at once but it's best to make sure the oil is hot enough.

Add the kernels when the one pops and close the lid. I like to hold it about an inch above the element when it is popping. Some say you should remove it from the heat a while. That's my way of doing it. It always works out.