Palomitas con Salsa or Popcorn with Hot Sauce
After my family moved to the states, many of our summer holidays were spent in Mexico. I looked forward to those summers in Mexico with mixed feelings. The bad part was that I had to leave my American friends behind. But the good part was that I got to see my extended family. My family is blessed with a huge number of people. All very loving and caring people. It was great catching up with all of our tias, tios, and primos (aunties, uncles and cousins). So really the good always outweighed the bad.
Another really great thing about those summers in Mexico was the freedom that my siblings and I were allowed. Our small Mexican hometown is safe, crime is virtually unheard of. That same freedom was not one given to us in our American hometown. Largely because you need a car to go anywhere in the states, and in our small town your legs take you everywhere. Our legs would take us from one end of town visiting a tia down the other end to simply hangout at the plaza, the town’s main square.
We always took the early morning flight down to Mexico. I remember that every night before our flight I would lay awake with anticipation. I wanted the night to hurry up and finish so we could go see our familia. When sleep finally took over my body I would have wonderful dreams. Those dreams always seemed to be about the food that I was going to eat in my town.
I would dream of paletas or Mexican frozen popsicles. Paletas are mostly made with fruits, unlike the more common dairy based ones many of you are familiar with. There was one in particular I always dreamt of, paleta de chile. Oh, my mouth waters just writing this. I would also dream of these hard candy lollipops flavored with mango and chile. The other thing I would also dream about was the crunchy street snacks that, you guessed it, had chile on them. I guess this is living up to the stereotype of everything Mexican having chile on it. But I assure you not everything does, this is just what I craved.
One of those crunchy street snacks I have always craved is palomitas con salsa , or popcorn with hot sauce. Usually we bought them from street vendors that walked around our town or from the local corner market. It was great, the palomitas were filled inside a plastic bag. Then you could choose what you wanted on them. Of course I wanted chile or hot sauce on mine. The hot sauce was poured over the palomitas, as much or little as you wanted.
I loved that freedom of just walking and talking to my cousin or aunt while stuffing my face with palomitas con salsa . But the best part was waiting until you got to the bottom. To some the idea of soggy popcorn may seem unappetizing. To me the soggy popcorn swimming in hot sauce at the bottom of the bag was the best part. So spicy but ay que bueno !
This favorite snack does not require a recipe. All you need is freshly popped, unflavored, popcorn and hot sauce of your choice. You could use anything from Valentina hot sauce, Cholula hot sauce, Tapatio hot sauce to your favorite Mexican hot sauce brand. I like to add some hot sauce, eat the covered popcorn and add more hot sauce as I work my way to the bottom. If you don’t fancy soggy popcorn then you could also use chile powder. Lastly if you would like to add another flavor to the palomitas squeeze some lime over them, yes it is good!
Those Mexican summer holidays were the best ones of my life. Ones I would not have traded for anything. The food, the freedom, the climate, the sights, and catching up with loved ones are all cherished memories.
How about you, do you have a childhood favorite snack?
If any of you are interested in the snacks I spoke about, these are it. The first is a great recipe book for Mexican paletas, as well as other recipes. The second is the spicy lollipops and the last are Duritos which are flour based snacks that are fried. Check them out 🙂
Nancy Lopez is a food blogger and author of the cookbook Mexican Tamales Made Meatless. Born in Mexico, raised in the US, and currently living in Southern Mexico, she has followed a meatless diet for almost 10 years. It is her passion and mission to share all she has learned about vegan Mexican cooking and vegetarian Mexican recipes. Mexican Made Meatless is a blog dedicated to preserving the authentic flavors of Mexican cuisine just without the meat. It’s a place to celebrate Mexican culture and all it’s delightfully delicious traditional foods. Read more…
a bag of pop corn with some iced tea lovely movie food and yes my favourite child hood snack was popcorn and a lot of pakodas!! Even pav bhaji
That sounds yummy Anusha!
Ooohhh, yummy!
Cheers,
Rosa
Hehe, thanks Rosa!
I love popcorn with hot sauce also! I also put hot sauce on regular potato chips as well!! Haven’t done it in a while though
Oh yes, hot sauce on potato chips rocks!! You’ve got my mouth watering Steve 🙂
I have tried the candy lollypops and found them to be a tasty flavor pairing. The popcorn I have not tried, but I am thinking it may be a little too hot.
My favorite snack of childhood was the Chex party mix. We added peanuts, raisins and M&M’s to the mix, so it had a little bit of everything in there. Thinking of this sure does bring back memories.
Wow, you really tried them Tina ? That’s great 🙂 I only had Chex mix a few times but really loved it.
THIS. This is my favorite snack. My father would make us popcorn and drizzle with the hot sauce. My favorite was always the soggy bits at the bottom of the bowl.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
Yay, you love the bottom drenched bits 🙂
I would never think of puttin hot sauce into popcorn. Very cool.
Oh you must try it sometime Joy, it is quite tasty 🙂
Lovely post Nancy. The spicy sauce in the popcorn is a very interesting addition.
Thanks Taruna!
Love popcorn and love hot sauce…I’m wondering why I haven’t thought to do this before! I know what I’ll be snacking on late tonight!
Enjoy it Alyssa!
Love it! Pinning it! 🙂
Thanks Ruby 🙂
Oh god,marvellous.
Thanks!
What a fabulous idea!!! I love popcorn…and this is certainly delicious AND healthy!
Thanks Liz!
This looks delicious – buttery, salty and hot! A great combo. I’d have to say Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies is a childhood treat – although I wouldn’t be caught dead eating them now! But I dream about them every once and a while. 🙂
It is so simple but so good Julie 🙂 OMG I love those Little Debbie snacks, actually all of their snacks. I would love to pig out on a few right now 🙂
I cant beleive with the hot sauce lover I am I have never done this… it’s so going on my popcorn tonight no kidding.. I cant wait!
I hope you love it Claudia. Plus you’ve got that great recipe for making your own fresh popcorn, I bet it will be great : )
Great post 🙂 I can relate to a certain amount, I miss Germany. A lot.
I think probably one of my favorite treats from childhood are Pfannkuchen. German pancakes are nothing like American ones – they are large, egg-based, and you wrap them around fillings, crepe-style. So good, and unlike anything here!
I’m not a popcorn fan, but I certainly have never tried it with hot sauce!
I’ll have to Google Pfannkuchen, they sound really good. I do love crepes more than American style pancakes. Thanks for sharing Kiri 🙂
What lovely memories of food and family! I love hot sauce and lime juice on popcorn as well. It’s a great combination of crunchy, salty, and spicy!
Thanks and glad to hear you enjoy the combination !
The snacks I miss most from my Mexico Lindo y Querido are the chicharrones, the cucumbers and the jicama with limon and chile. I have to try the palomitas!!!
I’m totally with you on the cucumbers and jicama con limon y chile. Good memories!
Okay.. you officially made me drool a little when you described getting to the bottom of the bag so you could eat the soggy hot sauce soaked popcorn. No fair… I want some now. 🙂
Hehe, I hope you do try it Ramona 🙂
Palomitas con limon y chile are always a BIG hit at our house. We also like our popcorn topped with a little vinagre from canned jalapeños. So good! 🙂 Another favorite snack is chopped cucumber, jicama, and mango with lime juice and powdered chile! 🙂
The palomitas con vinagre sound really good! I really miss all the fresh fruit with the limon y chile. Ay Leslie you’ve got my drooling over here 🙂
Mmmm this sounds really fantastic! I love the idea of hot sauce on popcorn, the spicier the better! Great post by the way, I couldn’t stop reading. 🙂
Thank you Lacy!
I understand your feeling Nancy! I feel the same way. I’m going back in May and i’m looking forward to it 😀 This popcorn and hot sauce, oh man, Keith would go crazy about this. These are his 2 favorite things!
That’s great Tanantha, I hope you have a great time 🙂 Thanks!
Wow… I’ve never tried popcorn with hot sauce before, but it makes sense! I love potato chips with hot sauce and I do that all the time, but never with popcorn! And the soggy, hot sauce soaked popcorn at the bottom of the bag sounds just fantastic to me 🙂 Great post, Nancy! And the pictures are as gorgeous as ever!
Thanks Marsha :)!
OMG!!! I cannot wait to go to Mexico City and stuff my face with street foods and snacks!! This post just got me even more excited about it, if that’s possible. Yum. And congrats on Top 9!!
Trix, you’re going to have a blast. Can’t wait to see your photos and read your posts about your trip 🙂 Thanks!
I love popcorn, but never tried it with hot sauce! Sounds very tasty, since I love spicy anything:) Great post Nancy, thank you for sharing!
Oh I forgot..Congrats on the top 9!:))
Why thank you :)!
Thanks Sandra! I hope you try it soon.
Now I want to go to Mexico! 🙂
I love spicy popcorn. I have a cheesy jalapeno powder that my friends beg me to “go easy” with whenever I make it.
Congrats on the Buzz!!!
Let’s all go and escape this frigid cold 🙂 Your powder sounds like a great addition to the popcorn. Thanks Laura!
mmmm i spent two summers in mexico and to this day, if i had to choose a country with the best food, mexico wins hands down. i still dream about those snacks too…paletas, palomitas, pastel tres leches, frutas con chile, quesadillas, esquites and elotes, etc. etc. i must have gained ten pounds with every trip! no regrets!
So you know exactly what I meant then 🙂 Yeah the hard thing is not eating everything in site. Lol.