Last Christmas it seemed that arancini balls was the big supermarket buzz buy for all your party dinners, but people have been making these street food favourites for hundreds of years. Originally found all across Southern Italy and typically found in two different shapes, the perfect round ball and the tear drop or pear shape, both easily held in one hand for easy munching. The most common filling would be rice, meat, tomato sauce, pea and mozzarella cheese but in theory you can make these with any type of rice filling. First thought to be named after arancia, meaning "orange" which may have been linked to the size of the balls made, however it is Sicily who claim to be the first to call them arancina and in fact be the first to create them, but as always with these type of claims there are many people who argue against this and not a lot of proof for either side to back it up. Arancini balls have a crisp outer breadcrumb coating that cracks into this warm, gooey filling and is a decent stodge for defeating that hunger. If you have never tried one before then I recommend you find a local street food market as I am sure there will be someone there serving freshly made arancini rice balls.
They are fairly easy to make yourself though, as you can tell from my recipe. The version I have put together is also slightly healthier as you bake them instead of deep frying them. As you can tell from my photos, I baked my breadcrumbs a little too long and I wasn't able to find any mozzarella in this lockdown times so I used cheddar, but that is the beauty really of them as you can fill them which whatever you want! For my recipe for Solvay Society Tritium Tripel and Mushroom Risotto please click here.
Solvay Society Leftover Risotto Aracini Balls
Leftover Solvay Society Risotto (click here for recipe) or any left over risotto you have made
Couple of slices of sourdough breadcrumbs
Half a bowl of flour
2 Beaten eggs (this depends on the amount of left over risotto you may only need 1 egg)
Pack of Mozerella
I always freeze any sour dough slices that get a little too stale (translated about 24 hours after you get the loaf home!) for recipes like this or pasta bakes, I recommend you make this a new habit. Stuff your bread into a blender and give it a whazz till you have tiny bread crumbs. Layer them out onto a foiled baking tray and put them in the oven at 180 for no more than 5 minutes (as you can from my photos I left mine in a little too long), keep an eye on them to be safe, you want to just brown and crisp a little so they come out nice and golden by the end of making the arancini.
Prep your work station, have your bowl of flour, egg and breadcrumbs ready. Flour your work station and get your cold left over risotto from the fridge, it is important that it is cold so doing this the next day is perfect. For this recipe I have split the risotto into larger balls, about the size of a scotch egg but you could opt for making more smaller balls for bite size snacks. Divide the risotto and cup the rice till it forms a tight ball. Pull your mozzarella into small pieces and stuff these inside your rice balls, then gently mould the rice around the mozzarella.
First roll the ball in the flour bowl, then the beaten egg and finally roll in the breadcrumbs till they stick all over. To get an extra thick and crispy coating repeat the egg and breadcrumb rolling. Repeat this with all your rice balls and place on an oven tray. Cook these on 180 for about 15-20 minutes so the rice is cooked throughout.
Disclaimer - The Solvay Society beer used in this original recipe was gifted to me. Don't feel you have to use this beer please read original recipe here for other beer selections that can be used.