Chilli & Lemon Popcorn Recipe

The miserable weather in England these last few weeks has had the Devnaa team staying in, watching movies and reaching for comfort food. In an attempt to maintain a vaguely healthy lifestyle (in case the sun decides to break out in a late summer hurrah) we've been trying to snack more on popcorn rather than anything deep fried and highly calorific. Pleasantly, this had led to a tremendous variety of flavours of the fluffy snack being created and it's been lots of fun trying out sweet, savoury and even sour versions!

Here's one of our favourites - chilli and lemon popcorn with some fried spring onions for extra flavour.



Chilli Lemon Popcorn Recipe (serves 10)

Ingredients:

4 tbsp sunflower oil
200 g spring onions, finely chopped
5 tbsp butter
3 tsp paprika powder
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
150 g popcorn kernels
Salt to taste

• Heat up 2 tsp of the oil in a small frying pan and add the onions.
• Fry the onions until crisp and brown and then reduce the heat and add the butter.
• Allow the butter to melt, then turn off the heat and stir in the paprika and lemon zest.
• Leave to one side.
• Heat up the remaining oil in a large, heavy bottomed pan placed over a medium heat.
• Add the popcorn kernels before the oil gets hot and toss them in the oil. Shake the pan so that you have an even layer of popcorn on the bottom.
• Cover the pan with a secure lid and allow the popcorn to pop.
• Using a rolled up dish towel to protect your hands and hold the lid of the pan down, carefully shake the pan every 30 seconds or so to help the popcorn cook evenly.
• When the popping sound reduces to 1 pop every 2 seconds, turn off the heat and leave the pan covered until the popping sounds stop completely.
• Transfer the popped popcorn to a large mixing bowl and pour the flavoured butter on top (you may need to reheat it slightly first if it has cooled and become too firm).
• Toss the butter into the popcorn until all of the corn is well coated.
• Add salt to taste and serve immediately.