Rice Balls, with recipe

Q has been mentioning Rice Balls for a while so I figured I better get cracking.  The family went out to dinner for Q's birthday to an Italian restaurant and they had cheese Arancini (Rice Balls in Italian) that I would like to try to make next.  I made these only one other time. The recipe can be found HERE.

In a nutshell, you cook the rice and the meat. Mix them together with some sauce and cheese.

Portion them out-I used a large ice cream scoop.

While filling them I added a nugget of cheese.

We let them rest in the refrigerator several hours to make it easier to bread them. 

Then we deep fried them.

Rice Balls

1 Cup of uncooked Rice

2 Cups of Water (to cook the rice with)

Olive Oil (to fry the meat)

Garlic, minced

1/2 lb or Ground Beef or Sausage

Salt and Pepper

Tomato Based Pasta Sauce (2 cups total)

Grated Parmesean Cheese

1/2 Cup Mozzarella

2 Eggs beaten

1 Cup Dry Breadcrumbs

1. Cook the rice. (I used my rice cooker). While rice cooks fry up the meat in olive oil, over medium heat, crumbling the meat. Cook until no longer pink, approximately 10 minutes. At this point I add the garlic and cook a minute more. I am always scared to cook it first and burn it. Been there Done that. Drain excess grease. 

2. Place hot cooked rice, meat, salt and pepper, 1/2 cup of pasta sauce, parmesean & mozzarella cheese in a large bowl and mix together. Scoop rice mixture, form into balls and place on a baking sheet. When scooping you can add cubed cheese to the center. Refrigerate, I recommend at least 4 hours, butt he recipe says 20 minutes. 

3. After they have chilled you have 2 options. You can preheat the oven or deep fryer to 350. While they are preheating, roll each rice ball into beaten egg then breadcrumbs, place back on cookie sheet. You can then bake them for 25-30 minutes or deep fry them for 4 minutes. We have made them both ways and prefer the deep fryer method. Serve with the remaining pasta sauce and cheese if you like.