Today I’m presenting one of my favorite street foods, the Fried Meatballs with Rice and Tuna, tasty and flavorful, they are ideal to serve during an aperitif with friends, as an appetizer or if you want, even as a main course, just increase the portions.
A simple recipe, suitable for all seasons. The only thing to watch out for is the timing: cooking the rice first and then draining the tuna. Then, all you have to do is choose the frying method: either the classic pan-frying with seed oil, using a deep fryer, or one of the latest trends, the air fryer.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 405.22 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 11.56 (g) of which sugars 0.49 (g)
- Proteins 8.22 (g)
- Fat 36.76 (g) of which saturated 4.74 (g)of which unsaturated 30.19 (g)
- Fibers 0.40 (g)
- Sodium 259.99 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 40 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Fried Meatballs with Rice and Tuna
- 8.5 oz Canned Tuna in Water
- 0.5 cups Rice (mine was basmati)
- 1 Egg
- to taste Salt
- to taste Black pepper
- to taste Cheese (grated)
- to taste Marjoram
- Sunflower Seed Oil
- to taste Breadcrumbs
Tools
- Deep Fryer
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Frying Pan
- 1 Pot
- 2 Plates
- 1 Fork
- 1 Air Fryer
Preparation
I’ll let you in on a secret if you don’t already know, I’m a lazy cook and I easily lose patience, so when it comes to a recipe like this that requires many time intervals between one step and another, I prepare the various necessary ingredients when I have time. I’ll give you an example, for this recipe you need rice cooked for about ten minutes and then left to cool at room temperature. So Bea boils it the night before, maybe while I’m having dinner or watching TV, so it has all night to cool down. I do the same with the tuna, which needs to be well drained of all the oil if you’ve chosen canned tuna, or it needs to be dehydrated from excess liquids. So, being a good lazy person, last night I boiled basmati rice I had in the pantry in salted water for about 10 minutes, drained the cooking water, and let it rest in a colander. Same for the tuna, I took a strainer, poured all 8.5 oz of necessary tuna into it, and let it rest overnight.
When you have the boiled and well-cooled rice and the well-drained tuna, we can proceed with the preparation of the fried meatballs with rice and tuna.
We will pour these two main ingredients into a bowl. We’ll add salt, pepper, a sprinkle of marjoram, the grated cheese, and a light sprinkle of breadcrumbs.
In two small bowls, I poured the breadcrumbs for the breading and in the other, I beat the egg with a pinch of salt. Now let’s start making our meatballs, I compress them well.
I prepare all the meatballs and place them on a plate, then I’ll coat them first in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs. Once I have them all nicely ready, I’ll heat the oil in a pan, or turn on the classic fryer or the air fryer if you have one.
Now you just have to fry all the meatballs slowly, I don’t dare do more than 3 or 4 at a time because I like to keep track of each meatball’s cooking. At this point, you just have to serve the hot rice and tuna meatballs, maybe accompanied by some sauces of your choice. I recommend the Greek sauce for which you can find the recipe by clicking here!
Enjoy your meal!!!
Notes
If you liked this recipe, try also the version of Baked Tuna and Potato Meatballs
