Arancini- Italian Rice Balls

Arancini's are stuffed rice balls coated with bread crumbs and deep fried. The common rice used is risotto rice like Arborio , but if you have any left over plain rice or even ghee rice, give it a try. Just mix the rice or risotto with some beaten eggs, other seasonings or grated Parmesan, and form it into a ball, do the stiffing and deep fry. Tada! 

When i had some little more left over ghee rice, we (me & my Mr.), were discussing on how to use them and he ended up in Arancini. And we loved it. So the next day, he got me the exact risotto rice, Arborio (have given the picture down), to give a try for the exact version of Arincini and it was a hit.

The filling used can be as per your choose. Here i used minced beaf filling which was yum and also the Arancini can be shaped as per your wish. If you check in steves-kitchen.com he has a video explaining the shaping of this delicious Italian rice balls.

Risotto Rice Used - Arborio

Arborio rice

Arancini- Italian Rice Balls
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Recipe adapted from steves-kitchen.com

Ingredients:
For Filling:
Onion - 1 small
Minced Meat (beaf) - 250g
Carrot - 1 small
Black pepper - 1/4 tsp
Tomato paste - 3 tbsp
Water- 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp
Flour - 1 tbsp
Green peas - 1/4 cup
Corriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Salt
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
For Rice:
Rice - 450 g
Onion - 1 small
Vegetable Stock Cube - 1
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt
Water - 900 ml
Others:
Mozzarella cheese - 1 cup (Cubes or shredded)
Egg - 2
Bread Crumbs
Oil for frying

Preparation:-
Prepare the filling:
1. In a pan add oil and saute onion till translucent, add minced meat and cook until the meat is nicely browned.
2. Add carrots and cook till half done and then add flour and mix till the raw small of flaour disappears.
3. Then add tomato paste. Mix well.
4. Add in Salt, Sugar, water and stir everything together and then lower the heat. Add the green peas and leave to simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Once done, add coriander leaves and keep aside, let it cool down.
Prepare the Rice:
1. In another pan, add olive oil and saute onion. Saute till translucent.

2. Pour in water, add vegetable stock cube and 2 tbsp of prepared meat stuffing. Adjust salt.

3. Bring water to boil and add rice at this stage. Give a good stir and lower the heat.

4. Leave to simmer for 15 minutes and let the rice gets cooked and all the water gets absorbed. The rice should be tender by now.

5. Once the rice is cooked remove from the heat and spread in a plate to allow the rice to cool completely.

Preparing Rice Balls / Arancini:

1. Take a handful of  rice make a ball out of it.

2. Make a hole in the center of the rice ball and some stuffing and few cubes of Mozzarella/ shredded mozzarella. 

3. Cover the hole with some more rice and gently form the rice into a ball or desired shape using your fingers to form the shape.

4. Continue the same steps and make remaining Arancini.

Frying Arancini:

1. In a frying pan, heat the oil for deep frying.

2. In a bowl, break the eggs and beat well using a fork.

3. Dip the prepared Arincini in the egg, and then in the bread crumbs.

4. Deep fry them in a low to medium heat, so that it won't burn and rice will get really crispy. This crispiness makes it tastier. Yum!

5. Make sure to gently rotate them for 3-5 minutes until a golden brown.

6.Remove from the oil and place onto kitchen paper to drain. Enjoy!