Frittelle di riso: the original recipe from Florence

Carnival has started and together with floats and masks come lots of delicious cakes and sweets, that are typical of this period of the year.  One of these special cakes are the “Frittelle di riso“, kind of fritters made of boiled rice covered with sugar. This is the original recipe I took from an old book of Florentine Cuisine called “Il Libro della vera cucina Fiorentina” by Paolo Petroni, together with my personal touch. I promise, they’ll be gnammy gnammy!

Ingredients:
200 gr Rice
500 ml Milk
4 Eggs
4 Spoons of all-purpose flour
30 gr Butter
1 Spoon of baking powder for cakes
1 Lemon
30 gr White Sugar
1 vanillin

The night before cooking the Frittelle di riso you have to prepare the rice, that has to stand for the whole night. So in a large pot boil the milk, two water glasses and a pinch of salt. When it’s boiling put the rice and after two minutes  add the butter, the sugar and grated lemon peel. Cook the rice until it is completely dry. Cool it down and then put it in the fridge for the whole night.

On the next day take the rice out of the fridge at least half an hour before you start using it. Add to it the 4  yolks and mix. Put the egg whites in a bowl and beat them until stiff. Then put them aside. Now add to the rice 4 spoons of flour, the vanillin and the baking powder and stir all together until you have a smooth mix. Now add the egg whites.

Take a big pan, large enough to deep fry the Frittelle. Put as much oil as needed and bring it to the ideal temperature to fry. When it’s hot, take part of the mix with a spoon and put it in the oil. Let the Frittelle turn brownish on both sides, than take them out and roll it into white sugar. Do it until you finish everything. Buon appetito!