22 Sep Stovetop Zebra Popcorn

You may or may not know that I’ve had a life-long love affair with popcorn.

As I mention here, (click if you’d like-but the Cliff Notes version is below) my Dad made a total of two dishes while I was growing up:

1. scrambled eggs and salami
2. popcorn

When we’d hear him shifting the pots and pans around in the bottom of the cabinet to find the heavy bottomed stock pot and lid, we knew we were in for a treat. Out came the oil, kernels and salt. The sound of bottom of the pot being vigorously shaken back and forth over the burners of the stove top was deafening. He’d scoop the hot popcorn into brown paper lunch bags and write our names on them to ensure we ate out of only our own bag. We’d then jump into the family station wagon with blankets and sleeping bags in tow for our evening at the drive-in movie theater.

This month’s The Recipe Redux theme -First Cooking Recollections-made popcorn an easy target.

First Cooking Recollections

Stir up some of your earliest culinary recollections. Did you stand at your grandmother’s elbow to learn to cook? Or did you learn by stumbling through a cookbook by yourself? Share a healthy recipe and the accompanying story about one of your first cooking memories.

I’ve added a bit of a spin to the basic popcorn recipe I grew up with by adding melted chocolate. I’m told that this makes it “Zebra” popcorn, so we’ll go with that for this post.

Zebra Popocorn

1 T corn oil

1 cup kernels

Light sprinkling of salt

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, melted

1. In a large, heavy bottomed pot (think stock pot), add corn oil (while pot is still cold) and heat over medium heat. Add corn kernels. Shake to ensure an even, coated layer of kernels. Add lid.
2. Continue shaking every 30 seconds. Corn will begin to pop after about 3 minutes. When popping slows, remove from heat immediately.
3. In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips on low heat for 10-15 seconds. Stir. Add 10 additional seconds and stir again. Continue until chips are melted or can be stirred into a melted state.
4. Once melted, spoon chocolate into a small, zip top plastic bag. Push all of the air out of the bag before closing. Move chocolate toward one corner of the bag. Using scissors (not a knife), snip a tiny hole in the bag.
5. Pipe chocolate in a zig-zag pattern over the poporn. Toss. Repeat. Toss and repeat until all of the chocolate is gone. Spinkle with salt.
6. Transfer into a seving bowl and enjoy!