Recipe rice balls - Italian arancini

Arancini di riso
This Sicilian recipe for rice balls follows up on my contribution to the Dropout Diaries’ Street Food Festival. When asked to write a post on Italian street food for the Dropout Diaries the first thing that sprung to mind were the delicious rice oranges that can sometimes be bought on the ferry to Sicily. Arancini come in a multitude of different version some of which are very elaborate using peas, minced beef and chicken. This is the simple (lazy) model of a fried risotto with a bleeding mozzarella heart, but they are still a great snack.

Ingredients
For the risotto
1 tbsp butter
1 shallot onion
300 g risotto rice
100 ml white wine
100 ml boiling chicken stock
Salt
50 g grated parmesan

Filling and coating
1 mozzarella
1 beaten egg
4 tbsp fresh white bread crumbs
Oil for frying

Preparation
You can use some risotto left over from the day before or make a new one like this:
Melt the butter and fry the chopped onion over low heat
Add rice and heat them through before the wine is added
Start stirring in chicken stock when most of the wine has evaporated.
Keep stirring and adding more stock for 15-20 minutes until the rice are done and you have a firm risotto
Add salt and grated parmesan and leave the rice to cool
Cut the mozzarella into cubes
Take a small spoonful of rice, press mozzarella in the middle and cover it completely with rice
Roll the balls in beaten egg and bread crumbs and deep fry in hot oil.
Serve immediately.