How to Make Riceballs

Although making riceballs can be a bit tedious, they are really fun to make and sure to please whomever you are making them for. I started making riceballs about five years ago. The first time I made them was with my father, we loved cooking together and we were really excited to try making them. After our first attempt, some of the riceballs broke apart. We realized that it is very important to constantly be molding them with both hands, even before you put into deep fryer. By the second time we made them, we had perfected them. I have been making them ever since & they are a huge hit with my family and my friends. My boyfriend goes crazy for them! I once made "broccoli balls" that look exactly like mini-riceballs, except they have melted mozzarella and broccoli in it only. My boyfriend hates broccoli, but he loves these, he ate about 6 of them! Will be posting recipe soon. Yes they are fattening (deep fried) but they are quite the treat! Especially for a nice Sunday dinner :) Enjoy!

How to Make Riceballs

Start off by boiling some white rice. I like to use the 10 minute rice because it’s easier and tastes just as good but it’s up to you. Drain rice and let cool off for for after 15 minutes. In a bowl mix 2-3 eggs with fork…when rice is cooled off, pour the egg in rice as well as chopped parsley and pecorino cheese. This is important to get the rice nice and sticky. Stir all together and put to side. (You can put in fridge to cool off so it isn’t too hot, because you need to use your hands with rice) Another option is to go a chinese restaurant to buy white rice because their rice is very sticky.

In a nice sized pan, add very little oil or none at all (the meat gives off its own oil). Brown some ground chop meat in the pan. After it is browned, drain oil, saute some finely diced white onion for about two minutes on a medium flame and than put the chop meat back in pan. Add frozen peas (or fresh) and fresh cooked tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Stir and let cook while all the flavors marinate together for at least half hour - 45 minutes. Towards the end, add basil and grated pecorino cheese. Once fully cooked, put the chop-meat mixture on the side to cool off.

What you want to do next is setup the table in order for making the actual riceballs.
Place the rice mixture on the table, next to it put a plate finely shredded mozzarella cheese, than the chop-meat mixture. Next to the chop meat mixture, put a bowl with mixed egg (add salt and pepper…grated cheese and parsley optional) and than next to that- a plate full of breadcrumbs.

WET your hands everytime you make a riceball… take a some of the rice mixture into your hand. Than take some cheese, meat mixture and with your hands firmly mold it all together. Add more rice mixture on top of it and firmly make a hard ball using both hands. Than dip into egg mixture. Be ready to get your hands messy. You can always take a spoon and pour a little of the egg mixture over the ball. If you put it in the egg bowl, VERY QUICKLY use your hands to get egg on riceball, its ok if its mixed in a bit. You want to try to do this part fast so that the riceball does not break apart/get soggy. Continue to keep firmly molding the ball. Than drop into plate of breadcrumbs while continuing to firmly mold so it doesn’t fall apart. After you bread the riceball place it in plate. Before you add to the deep fryer use both hands again to firmly mold to keep the ball in ball.

It only needs to stay in deep fryer for 2 minutes or so. Depends how well done you like it. If you don’t have a deep fryer you can take a big pot and add A LOT of vegetable oil to it and use a strainer to dip each riceball in. Either way works. If you want to make parmesan style, cut open in the middle and put fresh mozzarella over it with tomato sauce and bake in oven.

Questions? Feel free to comment and I will be happy to answer whatever questions you might have. I will be uploading more recipes/meal ideas. :)

This meal below is a meal that I made for a bunch of my girlfriends last year. Another great delicious meal idea. Here we have home-made riceballs and a salad with roasted peppers, onions, cherry tomatos and olives in a lemon&oil dressing, grilled chicken marinated with white wine, salt, ground pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Lastly we have a really easy, declicious pasta dish: whole wheat penne with grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, fresh melted mozzarella and parsley in a white wine, garlic and oil sauce along with home-made cheesy garlic bread. I will 100% be uploading this recipe soon, it is one of my absolute favorites! The white wine adds such better taste to the sauce versues your regular garlic and oil sauce.