So here it is, just like I said, I am going to show you how to make Arancini. Or at least how I make Arancini. The perfect thing to make when you have leftover risotto. Along with a spicy tomato and red pepper dipping sauce, which I made optional in the recipe but I highly recommend it. The dish I posted before this one was duck breast on risotto. Which had quite a fancy restaurant vibe to it. So I wanted to change things up and make these Arancini more street food inspired. A style of food that has been growing on me for quite some time now. Simple food with no fussing about that tastes amazing.
Any risotto will work for making Arancini. However, if you want a good recipe, you can check out the herby risotto I made for the previous post. So click the link and check it out. And don’t worry about cooking the duck in the recipe as it won’t be necessary: http://www.blogtasticfood.com/pan-seared-duck-risotto/
Most recipes will tell you to put a bit of mozzarella cheese in the middle because it is a more traditional way to make Arancini. So you can do that if you wish and it’ll be great, but I used goat cheese instead, my favourite cheese of all time. And I promise you, it works so well and makes the risotto so dang tasty. And because it gives quite a rich, creamy vibe to the rice. The spicy tomato and red pepper sauce makes for a good balance.
As always thank you for taking the time to check out this recipe. Subscribe to stay updated for new upcoming posts and recipes. And if you think you have had the best arancini of all time, feel free to comment about it below. Next up, I will be posting a pumpkin pie recipe for Halloween so stay tuned for that. Have an awesome day, and I hope you enjoy the dish!
- 1 tin (400g) of plum tomatoes
- 200g of jarred/tinned roasted red peppers
- 1 red chili roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons of tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and roughly chopped
- Salt and pepper for seasoning
- A bunch of fresh basil leaves shredded
- 600g of leftover cold risotto (Click the link at the top of the post for the recipe)
- 3 eggs
- 25g of goats cheese
- 150g flour mixed with a pinch of salt and pepper
- 150g breadcrumbs mixed with a pinch of salt and pepper
- Plenty of vegetable oil for deep frying
- Salt and pepper for seasoning
- Put the tinned tomatoes, red peppers, red chili, tomato paste, olive oil, garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper in a blender. Blend for 1-2 minutes until smooth then transfer to a pot.
- Alternatively, if you don't have a blender, you could just put all the ingredients in the pot and use a hand blender instead.
- Bring to the boil on high heat on the stove. Once the sauce is boiling, turn the heat down low and gently simmer the sauce for 25-30 minutes stirring occasionally until it the sauce has thickened. I recommend half covering the pot with a lid because the sauce can splatter a fair bit while simmering. Turn the heat off, stir your basil leaves through the sauce then set aside.
- Put the risotto in a bowl.
- Get one of your eggs, then separate the yolk from the white. Add the yolk to the risotto mixture and the white in a separate bowl. Mix the yolk through the risotto.
- Get a bowl of water, then lightly wet your hands.
- Get a golf ball sized piece of risotto rice in your hand, then push a small dent in it with your finger. Fill it with a small bit of the goats cheese, then mould the risotto rice around the cheese into a ball.
- Do the same with the rest of the risotto and set aside.
- Crack the other 2 eggs in the bowl with the egg white, add a pinch of salt and pepper then whisk well with a fork. Put your seasoned flour on one plate, and your seasoned breadcrumbs on another plate.
- Roll some of your rice balls on plate with the flour making sure they are all coated. Shake off the excess flour then dip them in the bowl with the egg. Finally, transfer to the bowl with the breadcrumbs and coat well. Once all of your rice balls are coated, put them on a plate, then put in the fridge to firm up.
- Put enough oil in a pot to deep fry, then get it on the stove on high flame. Pre-heat for about 8-10 minutes. You can test to see if the oil is hot enough by adding a peice of bread, if it is floating and bubbling you are ready to start frying the Arancini. Get some kitchen paper ready. From there just turn the heat down to about medium flame.
- Carefully submerge the rice balls in the oil about 4-5 at a time, making sure you don't overcrowd the pot. Fry them for about 2-3 minutes until they go golden brown.
- Transfer your rice balls on the kitchen paper to drain.
- Let them cool for a bit, re-heat the dipping sauce then they are ready to eat. Enjoy!
- Start frying the Arancini just before you are ready to serve so you can eat them fresh.
Did you enjoy learning how to make arancini? Then you may also enjoy learning how to make this Epic Beef and Bacon Burger.
The post How to make Arancini (risotto rice balls) appeared first on Blogtastic Food.
