Supplì
Tomato risotto balls hiding a core of mozzarella, crumbed and fried, sold in every friggitoria across Rome.
Photo : FrederikBianko · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 70 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Medium
Method
- Melt the butter, add the onion and let it soften for 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, then the stock a ladle at a time, stirring until the rice is cooked. Allow 18 minutes.
- Off the heat, stir in the parmesan. Season, spread the risotto on a tray and leave it to cool for 2 hours.
- Take a large spoonful of cold rice in your palm, set a baton of mozzarella in the middle and close it into a long oval.
- Roll each supplì in flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs.
- Heat the oil to 175C and fry 4 at a time for 4 minutes, until the crust turns brown.
- Drain on kitchen paper and eat while the cheese still pulls.
The full name is “supplì al telefono”, after the thread of mozzarella that stretches between the two halves like an old telephone cord. The risotto must be cold and firm before you shape it, or the balls burst open in the oil.
