Recipes for Chanukah: Mini cheese arancini balls
Chanukah isn’t only about latkes and donuts. Let Denise Phillips show you how to be a little bit more adventurous in the festive kitchen
These deep fried risotto balls are a popular Sicilian street food about the size and shape of an orange (arancia means orange in Italian) and are perfect for Chanukah. I’ve have made them bite-size.
Preparation Time: 30 mins. Cooking Time: 40 mins
Ingredients
- 700ml vegetable stock
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion – peeled and finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 250g Arborio risotto rice
- 50g unsalted butter
- Pinch smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt
Filling
- 50g of Parmesan – grated
- 100g of mozzarella cheese – cut into small pieces Coating
- 500g dried breadcrumbs – place sliced bread in the oven for 5 minutes or use a toaster
- 2 tablespoons parsley
- 170g plain flour
- 1 egg – beaten
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Rapeseed or vegetable oil for frying
Method
- Use leftover rice if available or make by bringing the stock to the boil in a medium saucepan.
- In a separate deep saucepan, heat the oil. Sauté the onion and garlic for about 2-3 minutes or until soft but not brown. Add the rice and ladle the stock a ladle at a time, stirring continuously for about 20 minutes or until the rice is soft.
- Stir in the butter and paprika and season to taste. Leave to cool, preferably in the fridge or you can spread it out on a tray to speed up the process.
- Add the grated Parmesan and stir well to mix.
- 5 Take a tablespoon of cooled rice and shape into a ball between wet hands. Make a small hole and insert a mozzarella cube, then plug and mould with extra rice to seal the ball. Repeat until all the rice is used up.
- To make the breadcrumbs, place the dried bread and parsley in the processor and pulse until finely chopped.
- Put the flour on a plate, beaten egg in a dish and herb breadcrumbs on a plate.
- Heat the oil in a deep fat fryer or saucepan to 180ºC or until a breadcrumb sizzles on contact.
- Dip each rice ball into the flour, then egg and finally breadcrumbs and squeeze together to form an even coating.
- Cook in batches until golden brown, making sure the oil comes back to temperature between batches. Leave on a rack to cool.
- Either enjoy immediately or reheat in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 180ºC. Sprinkle with salt.
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