So this Cookin’ with Coolio video is a Cookbook Corner one that’s been in the works for a long time as I sadly had bad timing the first time round as it was right when Coolio passed away. But the time has come to pay homage to this great chef and try out one of his recipes.
And what better one to start with than Popcorn Steak – crispy little bites of deep fried steak with a delicious dipping sauce. To be fair, the dipping sauce is a little bit of my own creation as I didn’t have the steak sauce he recommended for it, but I don’t think I did a bad job – Chloe loved it!
I have to warn you to be careful with this cookbook around kids, folks! Coolio’s language isn’t exactly family-friendly in these recipes! But either way, he was apparently an excellent chef and loved cooking. I love that this recipe starts with a delicious marinade for the steak, and it works out pretty stonkin in the end!
If you want to try this recipe out yourself with my dunking sauce, I’ve typed it all up below for you!
Popcorn Steak Recipe
First up, we’re making the marinade. Mix the balsamic vinegar with the beer and salt and pepper in a bowl. The recipe says to use “seasoned salt” but I could only find steak seasoning at the supermarket so I’m using my trusty smoked salt here.
Tip in the steak chunks, making sure they are fully covered in the marinade, cover with cling film and allow to marinate for at least 15 minutes in the fridge.
Now onto the dunking sauce while it marinates, and this one’s simple! Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan, bring to a simmer for 20 mins on a low heat stirring often, allow to cool before using as a dunking pot.
Drain fully and then roll the pieces in the flour to coat all over to suck up all the moisture. Leave the steak in the flour as you fry steak portions in batches at 180c for about 6 minutes, or until golden and crispy. Put on kitchen towel after frying and repeat with the remaining flour covered steak chunks, then serve with the sauce.
I was a bit worried that they didn’t look quite popcorny enough when frying, but I found once the popcorn steak bites had cooled down just a bit, they went crispier and more like popcorn! Me and Chloe loved them with the dunking sauce!