Quick Italian lesson: an arancino (Erin-chee-no) is a rice ball. Arancini (Erin-chee-knee) is plural rice balls. Disclaimer: those are super English pronunciations, so be careful if you’re actually in Italy or talking to an Italian.
Now that that’s settled, let me tell you a little something about these beauties. The Italian cafe I worked at in Cambridge had them. They were massive and filling and wonderful. Fast forward to travelling last winter, we were in Rome and found a place that had a good selection of ‘suppli’ which are basically little two-bite arancini. I decided that this was something I definitely wanted to try making at home. And here we are.
The perfect time to make these, if I do say so myself, is after you’ve had Chinese takeaway because they always give you extra white rice that is always leftover and sits in your fridge for a couple of days before you throw it away. You can also use fresh rice, of course. I’m just thinking of ways for you not to waste what’s in your fridge! On that note, my boss mentioned a good idea, which is to use left over risotto and I’m pretty sure that until I actually do that.. I’m going to dream of it every single day. So stay tuned for the day I make a risotto.
This recipe works for two cups of cooked white rice, so if you’ve got more or less – you’re going to have to do the math yourself. I took a quick peek in my book, Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine, and Lidia does have an arancini recipe, but it has way more steps and ingredients than this one that I’ve come up with (obviously I’m going to try it out sometime though cause it looks way fancier than these guys). I’m all about simple – and this is super simple. You don’t even dredge in flour and egg.. you go straight to the breadcrumbs.
What else can I say? I tried baking a few and frying a few. The way you cook them will be your own personal preference. I’ve included directions to cook both ways, but let’s face it.. no one can turn down fried food. Do you accept that challenge? And like I said, you don’t dredge these in flour and egg, so they aren’t super super crispy, but you aren’t going to be disappointed, promise.
So scroll on down and make yourself some arancini tonight!
Super Easy Arancini
Ingredients
- 2 cups white rice cooked
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons Italian seasoned breadcrumbs plus 1/2 cup
- 8 one-inch cubes mozzarella
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- If baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir to combine rice, egg, sauce and 3 T breadcrumbs
- Add 1/2 cup breadcrumbs to separate bowl
- Chop mozzarella into 1-inch cubes
- Scoop out about 1/4 cup of the rice mixture, add a mozzarella cube to the centre and mold the rice around it - in the shape of an egg
- Dip rice ball into breadcrumbs, covering completely
- Set aside on a plate, and continue until there is no rice mixture left
- If you are frying the arancini, using a medium sized frying pan, pour in oil until about half full and turn on medium-high heat
- For frying, oil is ready when you sprinkle a pinch of flour into oil and it sizzles
- Place each rice ball into the oil, for about one minute per side. Remove from oil and place on a paper towel lined plate before serving
- For baking, place breaded rice balls onto an aluminum foiled baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
- Enjoy while hot, add some tomato sauce to the side for dipping
