When I was home earlier in the year, I watched hours and hours of the Food Network. On a couple of the shows, they showed how to pop your own popcorn. Now, I usually buy packaged popcorn which you can nuke, but after seeing these program, I decided that I was going to try to make my own. I went to a local health food store and brought the kernels back with me to Japan.Never having done this before, I was nervous. On the show, the chefs used Le Creuset pots. I don't have one, and I wasn't going to go out and buy one either (no space), so I used the one deep pot that I have. I put 1/4 cup popcorn and 1 tablespoon oil. I turned on the heat and as the oil heated, I remembered when we were kids we used to cook popcorn over the stove (Jiffy Pop), so I shook the pot over the flame. About 3 minutes later, I had freshly popped corn! The only problem was that I think I had the heat up too high, which meant I had some burnt kernels and uneven popping.
So, I decided to try popping corn again. This time, I used a saute pan with a lid, I put the 1/4 cup of popcorn in and 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of oil and made sure that ever kernel was coated with oil. I turned the flame to low and when the kernels started to pop, I held the pan just high enough to heat the pan without having the pan directly touching the flame. About 3 minutes later, perfectly popped corn! Not many unpopped kernels and none were burnt!
This was a great experience and a relatively healthy snack! I think my next experiment will be to re-create this local favorite.
10 comments:
Wow Kat! I see you've been very busy over the weekend...I loved catching up on your posts. :-) The foodie saturday...ai yai yai! I can't get over the great eats that you guys have and can only hope that asian places will be half as good here.
As for the popcorn...haha! I am saving up my arare for a special night when we can go all out with arare/furikake popcorn. Ono stuff.
P.S. I didn't know blueberries were good for your eyesight!
I'm not sure that they are but that's the talk of the town here-- that blueberries are good for your eyesight.
I am definitely gonna have to try making my own furikake popcorn, Rowena! At least the arare that I put inside won't be stale ;)
Take care.
Kat
Hi! I used to live in Japan (Chiba City) so I can identify with your blog. :) It's funny the things you miss sometimes- we would sometimes buy that American Popcorn (in the funny little aluminum pan- I think it was imported but it's been a while) in the Japanese Supermarket and pop it on the stove when we got a popcorn craving. I made a Food Network rosemary popcorn once- it's quite lovely and unique, if you can find it.
Gorgeous photos of Hokkaido! We only went to Hakodate, but I'd love to explore it more, especially those lavender fields.
-sea of
www.bookofyum.com
(also on the Foodie BlogRoll)
Hi Sea,
I think you could spend a lot of time in Hokkaido, there is lots to see and do, plus the area is HUGE!
Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you around here more!
Take care.
Kat
neato!!! Now you can add your own (not stale, lol) arare to the popcorn (I always felt bad about throwing out state arare that came in the Hawaiian Hurricane popcorn pack...) and melt butter all over, hehe!! ;)
ooh, real butter, gotta remember that, would definitely taste better than "fake butter" that comes with the stale arare, right?! might have to gather the ingredients so I can have some over the weekend :)
hope your week is going well, Kathy!
Take care.
kat
I always make my own popcorn, and I add some sugar to the oil and then top it with cumin, paprika, salt and pepper, it's my favourite movie snack!
Ooh, I'll have to give your way a try too, Brilynn! :)
Thanks for stopping by. Take care.
Kat
We always used the ole pot method when I was a kid..
It was such a thrill too.
FUN!
It is fun, Carol! I'm going to try other seasonings soon.
Take care!
Kat
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