Caramel Popcorn

I'm going to be honest here, I'm terrible at keeping this whole blogging thing going, It's pretty much been at least a whole month since I've last posted a blog because I've just been too lazy. I'm not even going to say that it is because I've been bust. Every since mid-sem exams have finished I've just done nothing at home. Apart from catching up on lectures that I've missed (I've still got a long way to go).

But since it is now the mid-session break I'm going to strike another deal with you. My one week of non-stop posting. I'll do another one of those this week. Starting today and ending on Friday. So you'll have 7 new recipes to keep you entertained and cooking up a storm in the kitchen for like 1 month, maybe 6 if you do a recipe a week. There isn't going to be any particular theme this time, but who knows it might come out of nowhere.

So are we all OK with this deal? One week of posts starting today :)

So the first recipe for this week will be caramel popcorn. Sweet goodness that melts in your mouth, keeps your fingers sticky and reaching for more and more until you hit the bottom of the container. Unlike the usual caramel popcorn I'm going to put a slight twist on this one. Usually it is just sweet, but this time I'm going to give it an ultimate sweet and savory twist by using buttered popcorn instead of plain. Stay tuned for more.

Ingredients
1 pack of buttered microwave popcorn
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
6 tbs unsalted butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla essence

Method
1. Pop the popcorn according to instructions on the bag.
2. In a saucepan melt the butter and then add sugar, corn syrup and 2tbs of water. Turn to medium heat and whisk until the mixture is a golden colour.
3. Turn heat off and add the baking soda and vanilla, quickly mix in.
4. Quickly pour mix over popcorn, and try to mix as well as you can without breaking the popcorn, Doesn't matter if it isn't perfectly mixed yet.
5. Pour mixture onto a lined baking tray and place in an oven pre-heated to 120C.
6. After about 20 minutes the caramel should be movable so use a spatula to evenly coat the popcorn mix in caramel. You can repeat this every 10 minutes until the popcorn is evenly coated.
7. When the mix is evenly coated, take it out of the oven to cool before storing in an air-tight container or eating straight away.

And there you have it, a sweet and buttery snack that you can have a home ready for a movie night or just a yummy snack to have all the time.

NOTE: If you want to make salted caramel popcorn you can all 1 tsp of sea salt into the melted butter mix to give it a slight salty taste.

I hope that this recipe will be enough to keep you satisfied until tomorrow because there will be more delicious goodness in tomorrows recipe.

Stay tuned for tomorrow guys!!

Bbopki 뽑기

Hey guys, I seem to be taking more than a week to upload a new blog post these days. I'm really sorry but the time kinda just blurs now because I no longer have to go to school or do anything really. But I am back with a new post today ^^

I think I will be posting about a sweet recipe today. It isn't really a dessert but more of a snack.... You may have seen it before if you have watched Family Outing (I know it is super old, but it is so nice)

It is a traditional Korean candy made of carmelised sugar and a pinch of baking soda, bbopki (뽑기) is usually formed into round disks or molded onto a stick as a lollipop. You can find it at food stalls on streets, but honestly it is so simple there is no need for it.

Usually you will just see the vendor making bbopki sitting over a hot plate on a table. Many bbopki vendors stamp the candy with a design or shape, and if you manage to eat around the shape without breaking it, then you can get another bbopki for free (you can watch the EatYourKimchi video with bbopki in it too) The candy tastes like a slightly burnt campfire marshmallow, and it's very sweet.

It is a super simple recipe so I will probably post something tomorrow as well. But here we go -->:

Ingredients
Sugar
Baking soda

Utensils
Foil
Metallic scoop (it will get burnt so set one aside for this)

Method
1) Add a desired amount of sugar to scooping thing. Just don't have so much that when you stir the sugar it over flows. I usually go for 2 table spoons.
2) Place the foil sheet on a table.
3) Turn on your stove.
4) Place the scoop above the flame to let the sugar heat up.
5) Stir the sugar with a wooden chopstick as the sugar begins the melt turning into caramel.
6) When the sugar has completely melted into pure liquid (but is not burn) get a pinch of baking soda and add it to the sugar liquid.
7) Place the scoop back on to the fire and stir the liquid.
8) Stir as you see that the liquid starts to become the color of a caramel.
9) Take the scoop off of flame and quickly pour the substance on the foil.
10) You can now make it into a lollipop or a flat piece of candy.
11) To make a lollipop you can place a paddlepop stick inside the bbopki
12) To make flat bbopki place another piece of foil above the bbopki and flatten it (but not too flat,let it be about 3mm)
13) Wait until bbopki is hard enough to remove from foil

And there you have it, a sugar dessert that is just glorified caramel.

I hope that this will be a fun yet quick recipe that you will want to try out. It is one of the most simple snacks ever, but I guess there will always be the risk of burning your caramel, but remember that practice makes perfect.

That is it from me today, but like I said above I will try and post another recipe post tomorrow because this one was so simple. Until then remember to stay happy, healthy and safe.