Tuesday 9 October 2012

Rabbit Recipes: Arancini (Or: Why I Always Make Too Much Risotto)

I have, until very recently, had a deep phobia of deep fat frying. I am a scaredy cat and I'm clumsy, and the two together + boiling oil has never seemed like the best idea to me. Marrying into a Gujarati family has meant I've had to face this fear as perhaps 50% of Gujarati snacks and breads are deep fried. I in no way aim to emulate this ratio in my diet but every now and again I do like a freshly cooked samosa or a puffed puri.

This is an Italian recipe that I first came into contact with in Carluccio's (I love Carluccio's!) The taste of these delicious, crispy risotto balls filled with melting cheese, remained there in my subconscious until I was faced one day with a massive batch of leftover risotto and couldn't face eating it for the third day in a row. And then, DING! I remembered.

This is ridiculously easy if you have leftover risotto to hand. I would actually also like to try making an Indian version using leftover khichuri, a type of lentil risotto - possibly filled with mincemeat or paneer.

All you need is leftover risotto (fresh isn't gluey enough to make the balls from so you'll just have to make a bit extra!), breadcrumbs, a relatively hard cheese (I used Edam here but cheddar is excellent too), and a beaten egg to use as egg wash. And one of these (I'm not sure what they're called but available from any good Indian hardware/cookware shop!), which has considerably lessened my fear of deep frying. I can stand half a metre away and gingerly poke the cauldron of oil!




Cube your cheese into 0.5cm ish pieces. Mould the cold risotto around the cubed cheese into balls.



Then get a conveyor belt type thing going (preferably photograph yours in the right order) with risotto balls, egg wash, breadcrumbs and empty plate at the end, with forks in each to stop things getting too messy.



Get your oil nice and hot (drop a grain of risotto in it and if it sizzles and rises to the top, it's ready, if it sinks, it needs to be hotter. If the oil is smoking, it's too hot and you need to - carefully - take it off the heat for a bit).

Drop 4-5 of the breaded arancini into the oil (you can use the spoon to do this ) and fry for 5-6 min until golden brown.



Remove with the sieve-spoon/similar implement and place on a plate with sheets of kitchen roll. Repeat with batches of arancini.

I like to serve them with a crisp salad to cut the fried-ness, and two or three dips (sweet chilli-mango, chilli mayonnaise and ketchup, usually!)



p.s. burning a candle is THE best way of getting rid of frying smells. That's your Diptyque/Yankee/Jo Malone addiction justified, isn't it?

7 comments:

  1. I tried this and it was a bit of a fail tbh my risotto was too chunky and had too much veg bits in it so it wouldn't stick together properly - I'll definitely try it again with a smoother risotto

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lou, I had quite a chunky mix too but it was quite gluey. I once tried it with defrosted risotto which was soggy and not binding at all, but I added some flour, an egg and then re-cooked it and it stuck together much better.

      Delete
  2. I am totally making these at the weekend :D :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah hope it goes well - I always get a bit nervous when peeps try my recipes out, just in case they go wrong!

      Delete
  3. Mouth watering. So hungry. Whenever I make risotto it makes me burpy so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How weird, can't think what would cause that, do you think your rice is totally cooked? As it's rice it's surely not too difficult to digest so I'm a bit confused I confess. I will be paying close attention to my own digestive tract next time I make it to see if it's a thing.

      Delete
  4. I have seen this recipe before and it looks delicious, but I a) never have left over risotto as I am a pig, and b) don't do deep frying! I wonder if I could shallow fry them?

    ReplyDelete

About Me

My photo
Rabbit-like in a nose that twitches when I laugh and front teeth not 100% rectified by 7 years of braces, postcolonial in being of British-Bangladeshi heritage (and reading many many books thereon). Books, tea and dresses: these are some of my favourite things.