Arancini
Arancini is an Italian appetizer. If I were
to deconstruct it – it is just rice balls with a chessy filling and a crisp
exterior.
I must say I was pretty excited to try
this. The hubby is very fond of all things cheesy and we have a lot of
mozzarella currently in my refrigerator waiting to be used.
I read somewhere that Arancini are pretty bland,
but I decided to up the spice quotient to suit our palates. Here is the recipe
I used:
Ingredients
1 ½ cup cooked rice,
1 tsp oil + oil for deep frying,
1 tsp minced garlic,
Salt to taste,
Chilli flakes to taste ( I used them pretty
generously),
Powdered black pepper to taste,
A large pinch of dried rosemary,
A large pinch of dried parsley,
¼ cup parmesan cheese,
Mozzarella cubes as required,
1 egg,
2 tbsp refined flour or as required,
2 tbsp breadcrumbs or as required
Method
Ensure the rice is soft. Heat a tsp of oil
and add the minced garlic and saute for a few seconds. Switch off the heat. Add
the rice, salt, red chilli flakes, powdered black pepper, rosemary and parsley.
Mix this well using your hands. It is a good idea to mash the rice a bit to
facilitate easy binding.
Now add in the grated Parmesan cheese and
mix well.
Divide the rice mixture into equal sized
balls. Roll the ball into a uniformly shaped ball and insert a mozzarella cube
in the center and roll again. Ensure the cheese does not peep out from any
side. Make all the balls similarly and refrigerate for sometime. I refrigerated
it for about 2 hours. This is an extremely important step as this hardens the
balls and it is easier to roll in the coating. It is less messy this way.
Beat the egg in a shallow dish.
Place the refined flour in another shallow
dish.
In a third shallow dish place the
breadcrumbs and mix in some salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a pan for deep frying. Take
a ball dip in the egg mixture, then roll in the refined flour and finally in
the bread crumb mixture.
Drop it in the hot oil and fry till golden
brown. Repeat for all the other balls.
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