Arancini (‘Risotto Balls’) are a delicious light meal, buffet food item for parties or as a starter
This is a recipe for low-fat, reflux-friendly baked porcini mushroom arancini
These arancini are baked, not fried. This makes quite a few arancini – you can either reduce the quantities or you can freeze leftover ones and then re-heat them in the oven.
This recipe should suit most reflux* sufferers, but if you’re following the very rigid reflux induction diet from the ‘Dropping Acid‘ book, you will need to make the following changes:
- Make the changes in the risotto as indicated in the risotto recipe
- Do not use mozzarella – these arancini are equally delicious without the gooey cheese filling
Ingredients (this will make approximately 60-65 arancini)
- Porcini mushroom risotto (see recipe), cooled & refrigerated – this works best if you make the risotto the previous day so it can be refrigerated overnight, but if you don’t have time to do this, make the risotto in the morning and give it as long as possible in the fridge. If it’s still warm, it will be harder to shape into balls that don’t fall apart
- 5 slices wholemeal bread, toasted
- 40g porridge oats
- A sprinkling of fine sea salt
- 150g mozzarella, torn into small pieces (approx. 1cm squared)
- Spray cooking oil (e.g. Frylight Olive)
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan) or 220° if it’s not fan-assisted.
While the oven is pre-heated, prepare your ingredients:
Toast the slices of bread, let them cool a little, then tear them and place them in a food processor with the porridge oats and a generous sprinkling of salt. Blitz them to a medium-fine consistency (not a powder, but not too big and lumpy either).
Drain the mozzarella and tear into small pieces, about 1cm squared.
Now it’s time to start making the arancini:
Take a small amount of rice into your hand (use vinyl or latex gloves to stop the rice sticking to your hands). The amount will be something you develop a ‘feel’ for – you’re aiming for risotto balls that are approximately the size of a golf ball. Squeeze the risotto a little bit, to help it stick together, then make a well in the palm of your hand.
Place a small piece of mozzarella into the well, close up the well and roll the risotto into a ball, ensuring the mozzarella is fully enclosed in rice so it doesn’t leak out.
Once you have shaped a risotto ball, roll it into the breadcrumbs and place onto a non-stick oven tray.
Repeat until you have made all the risotto balls (you will need 2-3 large oven trays).
Spray all the arancini with 1 cal spray cooking oil and place in the pre-heated oven.
Cook for 30 mins and serve – if you have them as a starter, you would typically have these on their own, but they also go nicely with a side salad.
Gloriously Simple, Gloriously Reflux-Friendly, Gloriously Low-Fat, Gloriously Good
*Please note I am not a doctor, speech therapist or in any way medically qualified. The recipes are a combination of my interpretation of the rules outlined in the ‘Dropping Acid – The Reflux Diet’ book and ingredients that work for my reflux. If you believe you suffer from reflux, please seek advice from a medical professional to confirm your diagnosis and work out the best course of treatment/management for you. I hope that my recipes can help you as part of this management. The recipes are, by their nature, very low in fat, so are also suitable for anyone wishing to follow a low-fat diet.
