Italian Rice Balls

This recipes comes to us from the May / June 2016 Canadian Running Magazine. I suggest picking up the magazine to make the dipping sauces that are suppose to accompany it. I didn't have any red peppers so I ended up making these as the starch to go with my BBQ Chicken and Zucchini Boats for dinner.

Ingredients (Rice and Mixture):
1 - Cup Rice (Recipe called for Short but I used Long and it was fine)
1/2 - Cup Ricotta
3/4 - Tbsp Parmesan Cheese
1 - Egg
1/8 - Cup Chopped Italian Herbs (Basil, Tarragon, thyme, Parsley)
1 - Tsp Salt
Zest from half a lemon

Ingredients (Rice Ball Coating):
1 - Egg
1 - Tbsp of Water
1 - Cup of Bread Crumbs

Directions:
Boil 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice and then reduce to a simmer. It will take about 25 - 30 minutes. Once cooked, let the rice cool a little bit. In the mean time you can work on the other part of the mixture.

In a large bowl, lightly beat an egg. Add in the Ricotta, Italian Herbs, Salt and Parmesan.

Mix everything together.

Once the rice has cooled to a point that you can handle it, add it to the bowl and mix everything together.

Form the rice mixtures into golf ball sized balls.

In another small bowl, lightly beat the egg and Tbsp of water together. Using a brush, brush the egg wash on a ball, then coat it in bread crumbs.

It a pan or wok, heat olive oil to Medium High and then add the rice balls. Turn them every 1 - 2 minutes, cooking for 5 - 8 minutes in total.

Remove the rice balls from the oil and place them on a paper towel. To keep them warm, you can pre-heat an oven to 250 degrees and put the rice balls inside.

Plate the rice balls and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on top!

I struggled with making this look nice on a plate but I think the bottom photo looks a lot better.