The love of Italians for pasta is widely known all over the world. But the addiction of this people to rice dishes is not so advertised. Meanwhile, even in addition to the famous risotto, in Italy there are many popular and favorite dishes, which are based on it. One of them is arancini. These are breadcrumbs and fried rice balls with various fillings.
It is necessary
-
- 1 1/2 cups medium grain rice
- a few pistils of saffron
- 1 cup grated Parmesan
- 4 eggs
- 300 g ground beef
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1/2 small onion
- 1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 150 g mozzarella
- 1 cup young fresh peas
- flour
- bread crumbs
- salt and pepper
- frying oil
Instructions
Step 1
Arancini, like risotto, have dozens of variations. This dish is more than one hundred years old, and almost all peoples who have contributed to the culture and cuisine of the famous peninsula have left some kind of food in it. Soft cheese is from the Greeks, rice and saffron are from the Arabs, the fillings are from the French, and the tomato sauce is from the Spanish heritage. Making arancini takes time, but once you've tasted the food, you won't regret it.
Step 2
Start by making the filling. Chop the onion and garlic finely or mince them. Fry the mixture in olive oil in a large, deep skillet. Add the ground beef, continue to grill, stirring occasionally, until browned, and then add the wine. While the alcohol is evaporating, dilute the tomato paste with several glasses of warm water, stir and pour into the skillet.
Step 3
Reduce heat to low and simmer filling for several hours over low heat. Add hot water or broth as needed to prevent the beef from burning. Dip the dried mushrooms in boiling water and leave under the lid until swelling. Cut the whites into small cubes, put in the filling and pour in the mushroom infusion. Stir, let stew a little more and cool.
Step 4
While the meat is cooking, you can boil and cool the young peas. Cut the mozzarella into cubes and mix with the boiled peas.
Boil the rice until tender in lightly salted water. Beat two eggs a little with a fork. Drain the rice, cool and add the beaten eggs, grated parmesan and saffron.
Step 5
When everything else is done, beat the remaining eggs and season with salt and pepper. Then preheat the oven to 180oC. Pour the oil into a deep frying pan. Start sculpting the arancini. Take two small handfuls of rice and form two hemispheres filled with meat and pea filling. Join the two halves together to make smooth, one-sided rice balls about the size of a small tangerine (4 to 5 cm in diameter). Roll a ball in flour, dip in a beaten egg, roll in breadcrumbs and deep-fry. Finished aranichni, golden brown, fold on paper towels to absorb excess oil. When you've cooked them all, place the arancini on a baking sheet and heat in the oven for 5 minutes.
