Delicious Arancini, an italian nibble that has become the only way to use left over rice in our house!
Ooey gooey cheesy goodness! Image credit : bbc.co.uk
This is a really popular Italian nibble that I had never tried until I had my boys and now it has become a firm favourite of ours for using up leftover rice if we have had a curry or something the night before.
When I make a dinner for our family I always, always without fail, over estimate the rice – I can’t help it, and it means that, despite my husband eating a mound of it, there is always a tonne leftover. Rice doesn’t freeze well, and it tends to be thrown out pretty quick due to food poisoning concerns, which is so wasteful. I hate to be wasteful. Really hate it. So I have started making these and we have them for lunch the following day, everyone loves them and I have now started making even more rice, just for these!
Here’s how to make super tasty Arancini:
- 1/2 onion (finely chopped)
- 1 clove of garlic crushed.
- cooked left over rice (up to one day ago, no more) approximately 2 cups
- 100ml chicken stock (vegetable will work fine too!)
- 1 cup of mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
- 3 tablespoons of grated parmesan
- 1 cup of breadcrumbs
- 1 egg beaten
- pinch of pepper and salt (if you need it!)
So take your left over rice and place it in a bowl, add to it the cheeses and set aside. Fry the onions and the garlic until they are soft, add to the bowl of rice and cheese. Add the stock and stir until the cheese is melted – this should give you a really sticky but mouldable mixture.
Mix the breadcrumbs and the parmesan together.
Set the flour out in a flat dish, then a bowl of egg mixture next to it and the breadcrumbs in another flat dish on the end. I also usually add a plate at the end of this ‘work station ‘to put the prepared food on.
So, roll the sticky rice mixture into a ball, roll in the flour, coat in the egg, and lastly coat in the breadcrumb and parmesan mixture.
Deep fry or bake in a preheated oven at GM6/400F/200C for 20 minutes or until cripsy and golden (personally I always deep fry these, ok I know it isn’t the healthiest option, but it is a treat and our deep fat fryer doesn’t come out very often! If you do want to be healthier then oven baking will work just as well).
That’s it! Serve them as they are, or with a dipping sauce of your choice!
Harriet x
P.s – you can add other things to these if you wanted, try ham (always popular with the boys), pepperoni or even finely chopped tomato.
