Arancini di riso (little "oranges" made with rice)

Preparation: 15 mins
Cooking: 45 mins (boiling the rice + deep frying)
    
Difficulty: Easy

This is a recipe I got from Elena, Roberta and Mr Antonio, from Italy. It’s a Sicilian classic and the recipe execution follows the true tradition. Mr Antonio is a Sicilian home cook, in his 70s, who’s very passionate about the food from his island, while Elena and Roberta are two girls who are passionate about Italian food and during their spare time they are keen on trying as many regional recipes as they can. Thanks to all of them for sending me this recipe. In the past I have published a similar recipe, but it was more about dealing with the rice leftovers than actually make arancini di riso (arancino is the single word, while arancini is the plural), so I am quite happy that someone has helped me to fill the gap.

1 Arancino PER PERSON AS STARTER
2 Arancini PER PERSON AS SIDE DISH

Ingredients:

With the quantities listed below you can make about 20 arancini di riso

• 2.5 litres of water
• 1 Kg Rice (”Originario” variety or “Roma” variety)
• 40 g Coarse salt
• 0.15-020 g Saffron powder (usually 1 sachet)
• 100 g Butter
• 300 g Dried breadcrumbs (finely grated)
• 2 Buffalo mozzarella (cut in little dice)
• 300 g Peas (boil the frozen ones for 7-8 minutes in lightly salted water)
• 300-400 g of Ragù sauce
• 1 litre of sunflower oil for the deep frying

Note: for the ragù sauce follow the recipe Ragù di carne (classic version - North Italy)

Directions:

Put the water into a big pan and heat the water. When the water is tepid, add the salt and all the rice. Give the whole thing a good stir.

Now, add the saffron into the pan and bring the water to a gentle boil (medium heat).

The rice will be ready after 20-25 minutes, when all the water will be absorbed. During this time, stir regularly so that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

After 20-25 minutes, this is what you get. The rice is now ready for the next stage.

Break all the butter in tiny pieces and disperse it over a working surface.

Cover the butter with the rice and mix using a spatula so that the melted butter is well combined with the rice. Then, leave the rice to cool down a bit otherwise it will be a pain to handle it.

Next, make the rice balls and here it is important they are of a size that resembles a little orange (arancini).

Once you’ve made your arancini, take one arancino at a time and make a well.

Have your ragù ready.

Fill the well with one spoon of ragù, one spoon of peas and....

...a dice of mozzarella.

Close the arancino, being sure that there are no cracks, where the filling can come out.

Pass each arancino through the breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs must be very dry and grated very finely, so use a processor to prepare it.

Put all the breaded arancini onto a tray and next we are going to deep fry them.

Depending on how big is your frier, put two or four arancini in the frying basket.

Ready for the frying.

Set the oil to 170-180 °C and fry all the arancini until golden in colour.

While frying, don’t turn the arancini around and don’t shake the frying basket too vigorously, because you might break them.

Once they get golden colour, it is time to remove them from the hot oil and set them aside, onto the kitchen paper. You can eat them after they cool down a bit (some people like to eat them cold) or have them later, re-warmed; in this latter case, I would put them in the fridge and take them out only when it’s time to put them in the oven.

Buon appetito!