Jill Can Cook: Arancini (Rice Balls)

Joe and I make stir fry for dinner pretty regularly. Every so often on those nights, I end up with extra rice that I have no idea what to do with. I mean, what can you really do to already cooked, plain white rice other than eat it with a stir fry? And I really don't look forward to making stir fry two nights in a row.

I poked around for ideas and found this recipe at Just Taste for an Italian dish called Arancini. I'm not Italian and neither is Joe, so this whole idea of Arancini was new to both of us. But, what the heck; it looked easy to make and we had all the ingredients, so I gave it a shot!

Arancini (Rice Balls)

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked white rice, cooled
1/2 cup grated cheese
3 eggs
8 small cubes fresh mozzarella
1 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp Italian seasoning
Oil, for frying

Directions:

1. Place a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and add enough vegetable oil to rise 4 inches in the pot.
2. Combine the rice, cheese, 1 egg, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning in a medium bowl and use your hands to thoroughly combine the mixture.
3. Form each arancini by taking a small portion of the mixture, squeezing it firmly and stuffing one cube of mozzarella inside each ball. Repeat this process to form 8 arancini.
4. Whisk together the remaining 2 eggs. Dip each arancini in the eggs and then in the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess.
5. Once the oil reaches 375ºF, add 2 or 3 of the breaded arancini to the pot and fry them until golden brown and cooked throughout.
6. Use a slotted spoon to remove the fried arancini from the pot and transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate. Immediately salt the arancini. Repeat the frying process with the remaining arancini.
7. Serve the arancini warm with a side of warm marinara sauce.

 

This recipe really couldn't have been any easier. Since I'd cooked the rice for a different meal, all I had to do was pull the Tupperware of rice out of the fridge and mix everything together. Here are some pictures of the process:

 

 

Everybody in the bowl!!

 

I didn't have mozzarella but I did have string cheese, so I just cut one up into 8 pieces.

 

My balls before I breaded them.

 

My balls after I breaded them.

 

 

My finished balls!!

 

My golden, salty balls!! Yum!!

 

Not to brag, but these rice balls came out super yummy! The original recipe told me to use parmesan cheese, but I only had Mexican cheese on hand. And the original recipe didn't call for any extra seasoning, but I didn't want bland balls, so I made sure to add salt and pepper. Plus, I still wanted them to be somewhat Italian, so I threw in some Italian seasoning. This made them taste like a Mexican/Italian fusion ball.

 

Joe wasn't too sure that he'd like my balls because the main ingredient is boring, plain white rice, but he was pretty impressed when he cracked into the crunchy outer shell and was greeted with steaming, cheesy, very well seasoned rice.

 

The only issue I had with this recipe was the mozzarella in the middle. I guess my string cheese was too solid/not soft enough because it really didn't melt in the middle like I'd hoped. It was just a lump of warm cheese. It didn't suck, it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Next time, I might skip that part.

 

We made 8 big balls. We ate a couple that day and ate the rest over the course of the next couple of days (they were VERY filling balls!!). If you make these and decide to reheat them, be sure to do it in the oven as micrwaving them will ruin the great texture of the outer ball!

 

A+ for this recipe. I can't wait to make them again!