Mini Pork Aracini, Asian Style

Aracini is an Italian fried rice ball often stuffed with cheese, with or without meat.  I have put my own little twist and created an Asian version, filled with pork meatballs and no cheese.   To keep it on the lighter side, they are baked, not fried.  

Aborio rice is commonly used to make aracini, but I find that regular white grain rice works well.  All it needs is a little bit of manipulation to bring out the starch to help with binding.  My technique is revealed in below.

I decided to make mini aracini mainly because it is easier for little children to handle and eat.  I have made 2" - 2.5" inch wide ones in the past that turned out really nice.  Just a word of caution, since there is no cheese to bind the rice layer, it might have a tendency to break apart when bitten into if the layer is too thick.  Don't go too thick on the rice.

We enjoy the aracinis as is, but if you must have sauce, a tasty ginger dipping sauce recipe is included below.   Since the ginger sauce might be a little on the exotic side for a lot of children, the sweeter duck sauce is a good alternative.  The little ones I feed prefer the aracini without  sauce.

Mini Pork Aracini, Asian Style

8 oz. ground pork

1/3 cup minced button mushrooms

1 tbsp. flaxseed meal

1/4 cup chopped scallion

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. minced ginger

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. salt 

2 tsp. soy sauce

1 cup uncooked rice

2 cups water

2 eggs

1cup panko crumbs

Boil water in a heavy bottom small saucepan.  Add rice and lower heat to medium low.  Give rice a stir for about 10 seconds.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Turn off heat and allow rice to sit for 5 minutes.  To bring out the starchiness, use a rubber spatula to stir rice and gently press  as you stir until it becomes sticky, should take about 1 minute.  Spread on a cookie sheet to cool.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Add panko crumbs and bake for 3-4 minutes until panko turns light brown.   Remove from oven and stir crumbs around using a spatula.  Set aside.

For the pork filling, place first nine ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add one egg, slightly beaten.  Thoroughly combine all ingredients. 

Slightly beat the second egg and add to cooled rice.  Thoroughly blend.  Scoop about a rounded tablespoon of rice into your palm and form a ball.  Hollow out the ball using a finger to create a well.  To prevent sticking, wet hands with water before handling rice.  Fill well with about 1 teaspoon of the pork filling.  Pack the rice around the pork filling.  Set aside.  Repeat steps for the remainder rice balls.

Roll each aracini in panko crumbs.  Place on a greased cookie sheet.  Coat aracinis with a generous layer of cooking spray.  Bake in a preheated 375 degrees oven for 25 minutes or until pork is  no longer pink when cut into. Makes about 24, approx. 1.5” to 1.75” arancinis.

Ginger Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

2 tsp. grated ginger

1 tsp. sesame oil

2 tbsp. finely chopped scallion, greens only

1 tbsp. super fine sugar

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and stir well until sugar is well incorporated.  Allow to rest 15 – 20 minutes before serving.