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AranciniSicilian fried rice balls

A firm risotto — the same grain as the milanese, made a day early — pressed into balls around a core of quick ragù (or a cube of mozzarella), set in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried until the shell comes off the hand and the centre comes out hot and dense. Why the rice has to be made the day before, why the seam goes under, and why the fry runs on a temperature rather than a guess: the frying page and the rice page do the work.

Origin: Italy — Sicily, home version
Difficulty: 3 / 5
Servings: 12–14 balls (a plate or a party)
Prep: 20 min, plus a day for the risotto
Cook: 8–10 min
Total: ~30 min, plus a day for the risotto

Technique notes

The dish is two moves, and the rice page does the first: the grain is made into a stiff, mantecatura-finished risotto the day before, because cold and firm rice is what holds a ball. The wrapping — egg and crumbs — is the second, and the fry is where the skin goes golden while the core stays dense. Get the grain right and the second move is forgiving; get it wrong and the ball leaks rice into the pan, and a pan of loose rice is the failure the whole page is trying to avoid.

Equipment

A pot with enough depth for 5 cm of oil, the balls floating without touching the bottom (a deep saucepan is fine)
A thermometer, for the oil — the fry runs on a temperature, not a guess
A shallow dish for the egg wash, a deep dish for the crumbs, and a tray with paper for the balls to drain

Ingredients

450 g (2⅓ cups, dry) carnaroli rice (or arborio, for the home shop), made the day before into a firm risotto with 1.2 L of warm chicken stock — the rice page for the grain
1 onion, in 4–5 mm dice, for the risotto base
120 g (½ cup, drained) peas, folded into the risotto at the end (the Sicilian move — the green under the white)
40 g (2 tbsp, grated) parmesan, folded in at the mantecatura at the end
For the core (pick one): either 150 g of a quick ragù (onion, garlic, 250 g grated tomato, a pinch of the salt, 10 min), or 100 g of a mozzarella, in 1 cm cubes
2 eggs, with 60 ml of cold water, for the wash
200 g (2⅓ cups) of fine breadcrumbs, for the skin
1.5 L (6 cups) of a neutral frying oil, for the frying move

Method

The day before: make the risotto as on the milanese page, but with less stock and more restraint — pull the grain off the heat while it still holds a tight, mantecatura-finished coat, the peas and the parmesan already folded in. A loose, flowing risotto is the grain that will not hold a ball tomorrow, and a firm one is the grain that will.
Set the cooked risotto in a wide, shallow dish, spread it level, and weigh it down with a board while it cools (30 min in the cold is enough on a day before the plate). Cold and compressed is the state the ball is built on — the firmer the grain, the easier the shaping is tomorrow.
In the shallow dish, beat the eggs with the 60 ml of cold water; in the deep dish, the breadcrumbs, spread level. The egg wash wets the seam, the crumbs give it a skin, and the wrapping is the two of them in order — do not skip from the egg straight to the fry, because that is how the skin comes off in the oil.
With a 90–100 g of the cold rice in the palm, a disc, and a 20 g of the ragù (or 15 g of the mozzarella) in the centre, pull the grain over the core and close the seam under, rolling the ball smooth and tight. The seam under is the move that keeps the rice in the ball and out of the oil, and a ball with its seam on top is the failure the whole page is trying to avoid.
Through the egg wash, then through the crumbs, the ball — and press the crumbs in as they land, 10–15 sec of firm, even pressure, until the skin is stuck on and the ball is closed. Repeat through the rice. A skin that slides off in the oil is a skin that was not pressed on, and a seam that opens in the oil is a core that was not closed under.
Into the pot, the oil, on the medium end, to 170–180°C, with the frying page's thermometer in. Drop in the balls, three to four at a time, and fry them to a deep, even gold, turning them — 4–6 min. The shell sets fast, and the grain takes the heat through it, and the core that is still cold under a crisp shell is the ball that was not closed tight.
Out of the oil, onto the paper, to drain, and the salt over the top before the plate. The ball is the dish: a crisp-edged shell, a dense grain, a warm core — the rice page's grain under the frying page's skin, served while the shell is still the shell.

Common failures

Rice leaking into the oil, the ball going to a flat white before the core is dense. The grain was not firm enough before the shaping, or the seam was closed on top rather than under. The rice page says the grain should come off the heat on a tight coat, and the seam under is the move the wrappers page is built on.
A shell that slides off the ball 30 sec into the oil. The egg wash was skipped, or the crumbs were not pressed on — the wrappers move has to be two steps, wet then dry, and a skip is how the skin comes off.
A core that is still cold under a crisp-edged shell. The balls went in from the cold, or they were too big, and the 4–6 min of the fry did not reach the centre. The 90–100 g of grain is the size the fry reaches, and a ball that is bigger than the fry is a core that is still cold.

Variations & substitutions

A saffron grain, for the week night. Put the 30 ml of saffron and its warm stock into the risotto the day before — the milanese page's saffron move — and the ball reads warm yellow under the same skin.
A pure-mozzarella core. The 1 cm cube of mozzarella in every ball, the ragù left out — the salt-and-fat balance carried by the core instead of the grain.

What to serve with it

A quick tomato on the side, a simple green, and the frying page for the 4–6 min of the shell. On the same axis, the banana fritters across the index is the same fry on a different skin, and the milanese rice is the same grain done for the grain alone.

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