[Music]
Supplì: Italian Fried Rice Balls made vegan,
without cheese or butter?
Buongiorno, I am chef Nico and this is
Italia Plant Based. Today we are cooking
a traditional dish from ROME: the Supplì.
First we make a yummy vegan tomato risotto
that we then use as the base of our fried rice balls.
They are crunchy, light and
with a melty core.
So let's start with the
tomato risotto.
When we want to make fried rice balls, we make
a very large portion of risotto that we eat
for dinner, then with the leftovers
we make the riceballs. We start with a vegetable
broth that we make by boiling
celery, carrot, and onion.
We also make our own tomato sauce
cooking whole canned peeled tomatoes
with celery, carrot and onion in pieces.
Then we add some salt, and let
simmer for 20 minutes, adding some
fresh basil leaves towards the end.
Now we blend the sauce with
an immersion blender,
to make it extra smooth.
Then we can start cooking the risotto.
As usual we start by toasting it.
We like to toast it dry
without oil, on a hot pan.
Once toasted, we set it aside,
and on the same pan we cook
some very finely chopped onion
with some vegetable broth.
We let it cook till translucent, for about 5 min.
Then we add the rice to the onion,
stir well, and when theres no more liquid in the pan
we deglaze with 2 ladles of vegetable broth.
In this preparation of risotto we do not
use white wine to deglaze because
the tomato sauce is already loaded
with acidity, so adding the wine
would result in an overly acidic risotto.
When the broth is gone,
we add the tomato sauce to the pan,
we also add some extra vegetable broth,
and let simmer gently, while stirring
almost all the time, from the centre
to the rim of the pan.
We cook like this until the risotto is al dente.
Then we take it off the fire and let it
cool down for about 30 seconds.
Risotto must be cooked slowly,
adding broth 1 or 2 ladles at the time,
as the rice dries up. Don't add too much
broth all at once. Also, keep stirring
gently to make sure the rice doesn't stick to the pan.
But now we can finish the risotto with a step
called MANTECARE. Off the heat, add olive oil,
nutritional yeast, and vegan cheese.
If you don't have vegan cheese, soy milk
works amazing too.
Stir for a full minute off the heat,
until the rice is very creamy.
Here you go, a simple risotto with
tomato that everyone will LOVE!
And with the leftovers
we can make and even yummier
recipe: the Supplì alla Romana, or
Stuffed Fried Rice Balls in english.
This is a traditional Italian recipe
made specifically with leftovers
of the risotto al pomodoro.
The rice is then stuffed with cheese, breaded,
fried, and eaten with hands!
To make this recipe we need
a vegan cheese in slices. We turn the
slices into cheese sticks
like this.
We use the cheese sticks for the
filling of the rice balls.
Then we prep a worktop with
all the ingredients:
the leftover risotto,
breadcrumbs on a large plate,
plant milk, we use soy,
and the vegan cheese sticks.
When everything is in its place,
grease your hands with a drop of oil,
then take a tbsp of rice in your hands
and start flattening the rice.
With a finger, make a small nest
in the rice to fit the vegan cheese stick.
Now start closing off the cheese
with the rice, giving it a
cylindrical shape.
Close it well. It must be compact, but not
too big. Just like this one.
To make your life easier,
wash your hands every 3 rice balls.
The when we made them all
we can first dip them in the plant milk,
and then roll them
in the breadcrumbs, making sure
that the bread sticks very well.
Now take the rice ball in your hands,
add some more bread on top,
and apply some pressure to
make the breadcrumbs stick to the rice,
until they are fully breaded.
It should look like this one.
And now we can deep fry them.
The oil temperature should be between
160C and 180C, that is 320F and 356F.
If the oil is too hot, the
rice balls will turn too dark,
if the oil is not hot enough
the rice will absorb too much oil.
When we get to the right temperature
we gently place the riceballs into the oil
and we let them cook for about 5 min,
moving them around occasionally
so that all sides cook evenly.
With 1.5 Litres (about half gallon)
we can fry 4 at the time.
For frying you can use olive oil, or
any other oil made for
deep frying.
Then when they turn to a orange, brown colour
we take them out of the oil
we let them drip,
and we put them on a tray lined with
kitchen paper.
Here you go, aren't they beautiful?
These are our vegan supplì alla Romana.
Tasty and melty, just like the
original Italian recipe.
Here we showed you a basic recipe
but as usual you can get creative
and add mushrooms, peas, or smoked tofu to
the rice to make the riceballs extra
yummy!
We really love veganizing
those traditional Italian recipes,
and making them taste just like the
original ones.
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But for now, Buon appetito, and see you next time!