Popcorn has been going through a bit of a resurgence lately. Tastes and flavours from salted caramel through white cheddar and even Worcester sauce and sun-dried tomato are now readily available at supermarkets and online.

With the addition of an inexpensive popcorn maker to the kitchen, these can mostly be made at home. Our standard popcorn comes in from left field, using Ras el Hanout and Maple Syrup to add a spicy kick to movie nights. Or … writing a blog post :).

Equipment

• Small saucepan
• Sharp knife
• Home popcorn maker
• Serving bowl
• Baking dish (optional)

We recommend the Andrew James Red Hot Air Popcorn Maker, good value and reliable.

Ingredients

• 100g popcorn kernels
• 75g butter
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1-2 tbsp ras el hanout spice mix

Ras el hanout is quite spicy, so maybe start with 1 tbsp and see how you like it.

Method

1. Add the butter and maple syrup to the saucepan.
2. Warm saucepan over a low heat.
3. Pop the corn into the serving bowl (or baking dish – see below)
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
5. Stir the ras el hanout spice mix into the butter/maple syrup combo.
6. Slowly pour the liquid over the popcorn. Mix it all up together.
7. Kick back on the sofa and enjoy movie night.

Getting an Even Spread

I sometimes find that popping corn directly a deep serving bowl leads to the corn at the bottom of the bowl being bereft of spicy coating. So I pop the corn into a long, wide baking tray first, and coat the popcorn in the baking tray before transferring to a serving bowl.