Easy satay popcorn

As a starving student living in on-campus accommodation with a $20 a week food budget I quickly learned to think creatively with food staples and healthy snacks.

One night I was hungry and only had a jar of peanut butter and a packet of popcorn kernels, some chilli powder and some butter. And that's how I made my 'easy satay popcorn'

• 1/2 cup of popcorn per person
• 1 tablespoon of peanut butter per person
• 2 teaspoons of butter
• Chilli powder (optional)

Method:

1. Pop the popcorn via an air popper, in a saucepan or in a brown paper bag (bag opening taped up with sticky tape). Make sure you don't add too much popcorn or there may a lot of un-popped popcorn whilst the popped corn starts to burn. Make in two batches if required. 
2. Melt the butter and peanut butter in a saucepan, stirring every few seconds until combined. Taste and add more peanut butter if required.
3. Pour the popped popcorn into a bowl and pour melted butter and peanut butter over the popcorn.

Variations:

• Some find that the addition of honey added to the melted peanut butter and butter mix and omission of chilli was more to their liking. 

• Another variation is to mix the popcorn and butter together with a fork or spoon and place in a dipping bowl and use the popcorn to dip into the mix if you don't have access to a stove or microwave.

Welcome to Vanessa's Mess

Hi! I'm Vanessa Pike-Russell from Illawarra Food Reviews and Illawarra Gluten-Free. I decided to make a new blog dedicated to my cooking efforts, tips and tricks. One thing you'll learn about me is that I only cook when I feel inspired. I am lucky enough to have an amazing hubby who loves to cook and whose main hobby is reading cookbooks and watching cooking shows!

I have been focusing on gluten-free meals and modifying my favourite dishes to meet my needs. I will also share the restaurant and cafe meals that inspire me from around Australia and my own version of the dish. I have a rather experimental style of cooking where I rarely stick to a recipe and make up my own flavour combinations.

I am fortunate to have a pantry and spice cupboard full of ingredients, herbs and spices from all around the world and access to some fantastic European and Asian grocery markets and supermarkets with a wide range of products for me to experiment with flavours, textures and combinations that sound unnatural but taste amazing!