Feed Me Arancini - Cheesy Pepper Arancini

I'm back from temporary hiatus :)

Many trips within Australia and starting a new job means super busy, busy Kelly! This means lots of dining out and quick fix meals for us (not good for my hip pocket OR for my creative outlet), so today when this arancini recipe popped up and I had a little spare time (and I mean a little - netball tonight) I was dying to try it!
I shared Like a Vegan's reserves about arancini. It seemed to be popular when it came to functions at pubs that were trying to be trendy, but by this stage I had already converted to veganism and I never got to try one. So anyway I thought heck, I like risotto, I like 'cheese' and I like deep fried, so I had a red hot go.
Like A Vegan's recipe is below, and my notes follow;

Ingredients

• 3-4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons chicken style stock powder (I use Massel)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 handful of parsley, finely chopped
• 1 cup arborio rice 
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns, roughly chopped
• 1/3 block Cheezly (I used Blue Style), cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup dry breadcrumbs
• Oil for deep frying

Method

1. In a saucepan, bring the stock and water to the boil. Turn down to a simmer.
2. In a large frypan, sauté the onion, garlic and parsley for a few minutes before adding the rice.
3. Add the rice and stir so that it is completed coated in the onion mixture.
4. Gradually ladle in the stock, one ladleful at a time. Stirring through and allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding the next batch. Once the rice is cooked through and creamy, stop adding the stock mixture.
5. Stir through the nutritional yeast, salt and pepper before allowing to chill completely.
6. Once chilled, remove the mixture from the fridge. Heap tablespoons of mixture and push a piece of Cheezly into the middle before forming into a neat ball.
7. In one shallow bowl, whisk together the soy milk and apple cider vinegar. In another shallow bowl, add the breadcrumbs.
8. One ball at a time, dip into the soy milk mixture and then into the crumbs.
9. Fill a pan or deep-fryer with oil and heat.
10. Add the arancini balls to the hot oil and cook for a couple of minutes until they are golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towel. Serve warm.

We were excited about the prospect of these, and wanted a few for lunch tomorrow, so we upped the rice and chicken stock another cup each, and added approx. 1/3 of a bottle of dry white.

I didn't have parsley on hand so used dry thyme instead (MUST be rubbed between fingers first to release the oil!).

I couldn't resist spicing things up so added a few pinches of chilli flakes to the bread crumbs, as well as a dash of salt and pepper.

Thanks to Loving Hut moving into town we have access to Notzarella now, so I used that for the cheesy centre. Today I tried a cube for the first time - nek minute I was on my 4th, and I had to stop myself - so good!

Anyway.

These turned out AMAZING.

I love the texture of the crispy crunchy outside, and the soft, cheesy, risotto inside as you crack it open with your teeth. Wow.

I served these with a corny, beany, coriandery salad, and a healthy squirt of sriracha (sriracha makes everything better).

Best home cooked meal in a long time.

These were super easy to make, cheap (the most expensive thing was the notza!), and are a great finger food for next time you are entertaining, vegans and non-vegans alike will thoroughly enjoy these! You can easily switch up the flavor with your favorite risotto recipes too. I'm thinking next time I will try leek instead of onion, and a shiitake broth instead of chicken stock. Ooh and maybe a squirt of sriracha in the center!

Have you tried these bad boys? Comment below or tweet me your thoughts! 

Peace