Arancini ~ Italian Rice Balls

Now that your rice has been in the fridge a couple of hours, the Crisco (veg. shortening) and butter should have solidified along with the cheese/s; and the rice should stick together to form your rice balls. The easiest way to do this is to form the Arancina and bread them in the same production line, at the same time.

Hold out your hand like you're asking for money, and cover it with rice as you cup your hand (I use the large spoon pictured above in rice balls ready for frying photo). In the center of the rice mixture in your hand spoon in a heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture; then make a motion to close your hand, you may need to patch the top with rice if you have small hands. You're going for the size of a large to medium orange (some make them smaller, I like to make them big enough so that you're guest are fairly satisfied with one. We always joked and said the rice balls tend to get as large as basketballs as you're getting tired and start rushing the job.

Next up is rolling them in eggs (that have been beaten) and then bread crumb; and that's it, they're ready to fry. Use the oil of you're choice, we use vegetable oil, heat it to around 350 (or there about); they should start to turn golden brown right away, if the oil is too cold, they'll take too long to cook and fall apart on you. Remove from oil and roll around on a brown paper bag or paper towels to remove the oil. I place them on a drying rack so they cool. You can serve them hot or freeze them, and warm them up in the oven as needed. Enjoy!

I can see my mother taking a bite and saying in Sicilian "I lived another year". My mother passed away in 2006, she had ovarian cancer; this is how she lives on through her recipes. Thank you for visiting my Lens, if you liked it please don't forget to "Squid Like" it. Thanks.