Fried Rice Balls “Arancini”

By AzWench

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup short grain brown rice
• 1/2 ounce parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated
• 1 teaspoon saffron or .01 grams (such as Badia Soanish Saffron)
• 10 leaves basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup no added salt, fat or sugar tomato sauce (such as Pomi)
• 1 1/2 ounces of fresh mozzarella
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 egg whites, whisked until foamy
• 1 cup of whole wheat panko

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Put the rice in a blender, food processor or coffee grinder and process the rice pulsing the machine on and off in 2 second intervals until the rice is broken up into pieces about half of it’s original size.

Put the rice in a large microwave safe bowl and cover with 1 1/4 cups of water and add saffron and cover the bowl with plastic wrap Cook on high in the microwave until the liquid is all absorbed into the rice, about 6-8 minutes. Remove and let stand for 2 minutes and then carefully remove the plastic wrap from the bowl.

With a rubber spatula, scrape the rice into a stainless steel mixing bowl, add chopped basil, parmigiano and season with salt and pepper then set in the freezer to cool, about 4 minutes.

Meanwhile cut the mozzarella in 12 equal bite size nuggets. Remove the rice mix from the freezer and form into 12 equal size loose balls. Next, take each ball and gently push one piece of mozzarella into the center of each one and form the rice back into a tight ball sealing in the mozzarella cheese entirely. Repeat with the rest of the rice and mozzarella and place them in the freezer again to tighten up, about 2 minutes.

In 3 separate shallow bowls place the whole wheat flour, egg whites and panko. Season the panko and the whole wheat flour lightly with salt and pepper. Pull the balls out of the freezer and in batches of 3 balls per batch, coat the finished rice balls first with the flour, knocking off any excess, then move them into the egg whites to coat evenly then finally roll them in the panko. Place the finished balls on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Continue coating the rice balls until they are all coated. Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook until the panko is toasted and crispy, about 6 minutes.

Heat the tomato sauce and spoon into 4 small dipping dishes. Remove the arancini from the oven and place three pieces each on four small plates and serve with the sauce.

Tips: Keep an eye on the arancini as they cook, if the mozzarella starts to pop out of the shell, remove them from the oven and serve. I love saffron and it has no caloric impact so if you want to add more go for it!