My first post of the new year! And a healthy post it is, too. As a matter of fact, I think this might be my healthiest post yet!
Not that I’m a calorie counter myself, I just really feel for all those people whose new year’s resolutions include things like ‘no more snacking’, ‘lose half my body weight’ or ‘stop eating junk food’. Regular readers know that I don’t talk about calories – and don’t worry, I don’t intend to do so in the future – and here’s why: I think that these days there is just too much focus on diet and being healthy. If I had wanted to talk about that sort of stuff, I would have named my blog ‘The Responsible Chef’ or ‘She Who Doesn’t Allow Herself Any of the Good Stuff’ or something…
No, personally, I hold on to this quote by Erma Bombeck:
“Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the ‘Titanic’ who waved off the dessert cart.”
In fact, I guess my food philosophy all comes down to this: live a little! If you’re healthy, a slice of cake or a simple cookie (or two!) won’t kill you… Not even if that cookie is sugar-coated, deep fried and drizzled with caramel!
(Are there cookies like that I should know about?)
Although this popcorn is neither sugar-coated nor deep fried or drizzled with caramel, it’s good.
Really good!
And, like I said: healthy! In fact, looking at the nutrition facts, you’d think this bowl of popcorn was an avocado! No saturated fats or trans fats, no cholesterol, almost no sodium, only 101 calories per serving (a full bowl) and it contains 10% of your daily value of dietary fiber!
Goji berries move over! There’s a new super food in town!
To make this super food popcorn delicious and snack worthy without adding the usual melted butter, sugar, caramel or salt, I added garam masala: an Indian spice mix that is also used to make Tandoori chicken and which generally contains spices such as pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cumin and curry.
It gives the popcorn a delicious, salty, savory kick!
I popped my garam masala popcorn on the stove in a pan with some sunflower oil, which is really easy and can be done in under 5 minutes, depending on how much popcorn you want to pop.
In fact, the hardest part about this recipe was trying to take a photo of the finished product without tripping over Lucy, who was, as usual, determined to get as much in the way as possible.
For some reason she thinks it’s practical to stand/sit/lie down on top of my feet whenever I’m doing things that require some serious moving around on my part, such as cooking, taking pictures or vacuuming.
It isn’t, though…
But back to the garam masala popcorn…
Just to sum all that’s so perfect and brilliant about it up for you:
It’s good.
It’s easy.
It can be whipped up in under 5 minutes.
AND…
It’s diet friendly!
So make this. Today.
Enjoy!
- 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon of garam masala
- 50g (or ¼ cup) unflavored popcorn kernels
- Add the oil to a medium-sized pan with two handles. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the oil is hot. It shouldn't be smoking though, so keep an eye on it.
- Throw in the garam masala and popcorn kernels, stir them around with a wooden spoon to coat with the garam masala, then cover with a lid.
- Put on some oven mitts, grab the handles of the pan and gently start sliding the pan back and forth over the stove, making sure the lid doesn't fly off in the process. After about a minute or so, the first kernel will pop. Keep sliding the pan over the heat (lifting and shaking the pan every now) until all of the kernels have popped. When the popping slows down (to about 1 pop every 2 seconds) take the pan off the heat. Serve immediately!
New favorite food quote:
Thank you, thank you for a grand (and simple) Indian spiced popcorn recipe. I got addicted to Masala Popcorn made by a small craft popcorn maker up in Portland, OR. They sell their popcorn over at Amazon; something called Savory Masala Pop Popcorn.
I’ve tried about a dozen recipes here and there online, looking for an alternative to ordering it, and this one is my fav. It’s slightly different that the stuff at Amazon (both are good), but it is so much fun to make it at home… I just love doing it when I have the time. Thanks… pop, pop, pop!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you like my recipe 😉
Wowza!
This recipe looks absolutely delicious! Such a creative idea, too! Who would have thought? Well, I know where I will be the rest of hte evening.
Thank you so much!
Natasha
Glad you like the recipe, Natasha 🙂
Thank god. Till now I was using Maggie masala. This is much better ????
This looks and sounds delicious, but I’m wondering, do the spices not burn? I have tried stovetop popcorn with other spices in the past and have found that in order to get the oil hot enough to pop the corn, it burns the spices, vs. too low heat to avoid burning the spices and the popcorn doesn’t pop, the kernels just brown.
What kind of pot do you use, and on what kind of cook top?
Ps Lucy is a babe, I’ll happily take her in any of your pics 🙂
Hi Meg, thanks for your sweet comment! Yes, Lucy is the cutest, isn’t she? 😉 About your questions, I use a very ordinary metal pot over a gas cooktop. I was afraid the spices would burn, too, but when I tried making the popcorn it turned out great! Spices are often fried in Indian recipes, too, so I guess it’s all right.