Red Rice Arancini Balls

These red rice arancini are a slight twist on your traditional risotto based arancini. Arancini are a Sicilian street food, and one of my favourite snacks! I love the choices of fillings, oozy cheese in the middle and this take on them with red rice is equally as delicious as your more traditional arancini.

What are arancini?

Arancini comes from the word arancia in Italian meaning orange - because of their often round shape and golden orange appearance when fried. You can also get conical shaped arancini though and although traditionally deep fried I prefer to oven bake arancini for ease.

What should you fill arancini with?

In this instance we’re going to be using mozzarella or goats cheese but you can also fill your arancini with leftover ragu, and I’ve also used feta before as a filling but the beauty of mozzarella is it melts and oozes as you take a bite!

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Red Rice Arancini Balls

Servings: 6

Recipe by: Cooking & Carafes

Prep time: 20 MinCooking time: 15 MinTotal time: 35 Min

This recipe is a great way to make the most of leftovers from my Red Rice Salad

Ingredients

• 150g of my Red Rice Salad
• 30g breadcrumbs, plus extra for the arancini 
• 60g soft cheese 
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 tbsps flour
• Diced mozzarella or soft goats cheese 
• Olive Oil

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees (fan) 
2. Mix the leftover Red Rice Salad with the breadcrumbs, goats cheese and a splash of the beaten egg. 
3. Then on plates or a large chopping board put your flour on one plate and some breadcrumbs on another. I prefer to use panko breadcumbs for oven baking the arancini. 
4. I also drizzle over some olive oil on my breadcrumbs and mix together to help them go golden in the oven. 
5. Have the rest of the egg in a shallow bowl to be able to coat your arancini. 
6. Wet your hands lightly and take a spoonful of rice, form into a ball shape, gently press a piece of diced cheese into the centre and build the rice around the cheese. 
7. Roll the balls in the flour and pop to one side - I like to roll them all and then do the next steps as it's not so messy! 
8. After you've rolled the balls in the flour, coat in the beaten egg and roll in the breadcrumbs to create a coating on the outside. 
9. Place on a baking tray covered with baking parchment and complete until all your arancini are rolled and coated in breadcrumbs. 
10. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. Serve warm. 
11. These would also be great served with a light lemony dip, you could use sour cream or natural yoghurt with a squeeze of lemon juice! 

Did you make this recipe?

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This recipe is from one of my Cook Alongs and is part of a paid sponsorship with Riso Gallo.

The Rustico Range from Riso Gallo includes wholegrain rices including the Rustico Rosso used for this recipe. Due to the high fibre content these rices are a great healthy choice and perfect for creating tasty salads or stews depending on the season. The rices are all par-boiled to reduce the cooking time for you at home, making it even easier to make a healthier choice!

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