Arancini (Week 33, Italy)

This recipe is a part of my Global Vegan Challenge where each week I research and develop a recipe from a different country in the world. Many of these recipes are veganized based off their omnivore counterparts. While not all of these recipes are a one for one what you’ll find in their country, I hope you’ll still find them delicious!

Recipe Notes

I made most of these arancini with an arancini maker / mold. You can make these by hand as I do in the photo gallery below but I promise they will be way easier and sturdier using a mold if you’ve never made them before.

I use arborio rice in this recipe, but any kind of sticky rice will do. You can even do this with leftover rice if you can get it to stick together effectively when compressed.

You can serve this dish with marina sauce, or you can do as I did in the photos and just double the filling and serve with that.

Vegan Arancini

Details

Servings

6 to 8 servings

Prep time

40 to 60 minutes

Cooking time

1 hour

Ingredients

Filling
1/2 cup Fava Beans, Diced
1/2 cup Italian Eggplant, Diced
1/4 cup Yellow Onion, Diced
1/4 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/4 cup Basil, Fresh
1/2 cup Vegan Cheese
1/2 cup Red Wine
10 Garlic Cubes
2 tablespoons Tomato Paste
2 tablespoons Pine Nuts
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 tablespoon Oregano
2 tablespoons Flat Leaf Parsley, Fresh
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Rice
2 cups Arborio Rice
3 cups Vegetable Broth
1 large pinch Saffron
Batter
4 Vegan Eggs (I made flax eggs by mixing 4 teaspoons of ground flax meal with 4 tablespoons of water)
2 cups Bread Crumbs
1 cup All Purpose Flour
Other
1 small bowl of Water (for keeping hands wet)
Vegetable Oil for Frying (amount depends on the size of pot you use — you’ll need a lot)

Directions

Rice
Add two cups of arborio rice to a pot with 3 cups of vegetable broth and a generous pinch of saffron. Mix well and bring to a simmer and cover. Allow to cook for 20 minutes.
Once cooked remove from heat and allow to steam in the pot for another 10 minutes.
Remove rice from pot and spread out over a baking sheet to cool. Allow to cool enough to handle, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from fridge once cooled down.
Arancini Filling
While rice is cooling prepare produce. Dice onions, eggplant, fava, and sun dried tomato. You can do this step in a food processor if you have one. You want the pieces to be somewhat small and uniform to make the arancini easier to fill. Set aside.
Mince garlic and parsley separately. Chiffonade basil. Set aside.
Dice up vegan cheese into small pieces. Set aside.
Toast your pine nuts. Heat up a saucepan on medium heat. Once to temperature add to pan. Stir the pine nuts, keeping them moving so they don’t burn. Once toasted remove from heat and set aside.
Add olive oil to the sauce with onions and garlic. Saute until onions start to turn translucent.
Add fava beans, eggplant, tomato paste, sun dried tomatoes, oregano, pepper, and salt. Saute until fava and eggplant are cooked, about 10 to 15 minutes. Deglaze pan as needed with wine until there is no remaining wine left.
Once cooked fold in pine nuts, vegan cheese, parsley, and basil. Remove from heat and set aside.
Assembly
Set up your workstation with 4 separate bowls. Fill one with water to wet your hands, one with flour, one with vegan egg, and one with bread crumbs.
To assemble the arancini get a handful of rice and form it into a tight ball. Press your thumb into the center of the ball to create a small hole. Fill hole with about a tablespoon of filling.
Grab another small amount of rice and cover the hole. Squeeze the rice ball in your hands to help seal the filling inside. Round it out into a ball and, or you can do what I did and carefully turn the ball with your hand to create a point (see gallery below). Set aside. Repeat until out of rice and/or filling.
Take each arancini and proceed to roll in flour, vegan egg, and bread crumbs in that order. Set aside.
Once finished, Fill up a pot with vegetable oil, deep enough that would be taller than the arancini. Heat oil up to 375 F.
Once oil is up to temperature gently add arancini to the oil. Allow to fry until arancini is golden brown. Remove arancini and place on top of a paper towel lined plate.
Enjoy arancini hot. Serve with leftover filling, marinara sauce, or enjoy all by itself!