Italian Rice Balls (Arancini)

A delicious way to use up all that leftover cooked rice or the perfect excuse to make more rice. As a kid these things were better than getting a cookie. They are round, sticky, with melted cheese inside and they are fried, how can that not be good. Like with most recipes you can experiment with other ingredients, different cheeses, meats, vegetables or even seafood works well. But this recipe is pretty traditional and so are the flavors.

1 lb. white rice

4 eggs

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 lb. Mozzarella cheese, cut into small pieces

1/4 lb. Genoa salami, cut in small pieces

1 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

1 cup of Olive, peanut or vegetable oil for frying

Spaghetti sauce/meat sauce (optional) you can just eat them as is

Cook rice until sticky, let cool. Mix rice, 4 egg yolks, grated cheese, mozzarella and salami in large bowl. Form rice mixture into balls (the size of oranges). Beat egg whites. Dip each rice ball in beaten egg whites and then in bread crumbs. Heat oil in a deep fry pan and fry arancini until well browned.To serve, split open and top with meat sauce or just eat as is.

Makes between 12 and 16