This recipe was a request by my gorgeous friend AQ. Haloumi cheese is deliciously salty it works perfectly with peas for a fresh texture and sweetness. The oily spicy flavour of the chorizo garnish balances out the sweet capsicum sauce. This recipes makes around 20 good sized Arancini Balls.

Capsicum Sauce
+  8 red Capsicums
+ Olive oil
+ 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Crispy Chorizo 
+ 4 chorizo, diced
+ Cracked black pepper

Arancini Balls
+ 1L chicken or vegetable stock
+ 2 cups of risotto rice
+ 1 brown onion
+ 1/2 cup white wine
+ 1/2 cup peas, lightly blanched
+ 1 block Haloumi cheese, half block grated and half block diced
+ 1 lemon, lemon zest & juice of half lemon
+ 2 eggs
+ 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
+ Vegetable oil, for frying
+ Butter
+ Olive Oil
+ Salt
+ White Pepper

Capsicum Sauce
1. Blend 4 capsicums, place in a saucepan over high heat and bring to the boil, turn down the heat to low for a slow simmer for 40 minutes with the lid on. Add some olive oil as much as you like depending on how oily you would like your sauce.
2. Meanwhile pre heat oven to 200c. Oil 4 capsicums and place them in the oven to roast for 20 minutes or until the skin turns black. Once roasted place them in a bowl and cover with foil and let steam for 5 minutes. Remove the capsicums and pull off the skin, dice and place in saucepan with blended capsicum. Season well with salt, pepper and paprika and cook for a further 30 minutes with the lid half off or until the sauce has reduced by half, blend the sauce and Set aside.

Crispy Chorizo
1. Heat up a lightly oiled pan to hot, cook Chorizo until crispy and place it on absorbent paper. Set aside.

Arancini Balls 
1. Firstly you need to make a basic Risotto recipe. Place your stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil then turn to low for a slow simmer, leave this on the heat to remain hot. In a medium sized pot add a knob of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a medium to high heat, when melted add onion (not brown).
2. Once onion is opaque add risotto rice cook the rice over medium to high heat stirring the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot, once the rice goes slightly opaque (around 5 – 8 minutes) add wine, once wine as completely evaporated, add 2 ladles of hot stock, let sit and cook until the risotto has completely absorbed the stock, add another 2 ladies stirring every now and then (you may have to repeat this process until rice is cooked). If you run out of stock, use boiling water. The Risotto should be creamy and still have bite to it, do not over cook the rice, you want the Risotto just one step before the way you like it because it needs to rest and the resting time will cook it further. Place a tea towel over the top of risotto saucepan and rest for 3 minutes.
4. Spread the risotto out on a tray lined with grease proof paper, let cool room temperature.
5. Quickly fry the diced Haloumi a hot pan with a little oil until it’s lightly grilled.
5. Mix together all of the Haloumi cheese, peas, lemon rind and juice of 1/2 lemon and lay on top of the cooled risotto. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Prepare a bowl of cold water near you and roll risotto into balls with cool wet hands. The best way to do this is take some of the mixture into your hands and cup it tightly for it to hold together, wet your hands and keep cupping it until it starts to stick together and mould it into a ball shape, place the rolled balls on a plate to rest for two minutes.
7. Dip each Arancini balls into egg and then bread crumbs and set aside let rest for a few minutes.
8. In a large saucepan or deep fryer heat up Vegetable oil . A few at a time deep fry Arancini Balls until they are crispy and golden.
9. Place on absorbent paper, serve hot with capsicum sauce and crispy chorizo.

Variation
You can also serve Arancini balls with aioli instead of Capsicum sauce. Feel free to use any type of cheese instead of Haloumi such as Feta or add parmesan. You may also like my recipe for Basil, Asparagus & Crispy Prosciutto Risotto.
 

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