The supplì are a typical dish of Roman cuisine. In this recipe, you will learn how to make and cook supplì as they do in pizzerias. What does supplì mean? The name is a (possibly) corruption of the French word ‘surprise’ because in the center, hidden by the leftover rice, there is mozzarella as a surprise.

They are easy to prepare and originated as a dish to use up leftover rice with sauce. Why ‘supplì al telefono’? The mozzarella center should stretch, creating a string when the supplì is cut in half.

If you like Roman cuisine, don’t forget to check out the recipe

Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Very inexpensive
Rest time: 5 Minutes
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: 2
Cooking methods: Frying
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

857.10 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 857.10 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 119.43 (g) of which sugars 5.49 (g)
Proteins 28.11 (g)
Fat 28.19 (g) of which saturated 13.19 (g)of which unsaturated 8.77 (g)
Fibers 4.30 (g)
Sodium 879.60 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 9 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 2 people

7.05 oz Carnaroli rice
4.23 cups vegetable broth
3.53 oz meat sauce
4.41 oz buffalo mozzarella DOP
2.11 quarts sunflower seed oil
to taste breadcrumbs
1 egg (medium)

Tools

1 Pot 2 quarts
1 Spoon
1 Knife
1 Bowl
1 Pan 8-9.5 inches

Procedure

The first step to making excellent supplì is preparing the rice with sauce (see here for the full recipe), which needs to be prepared in advance and left to rest. Remember that once cooked, the hot rice continues to cook, to have supplì with crunchy grains you should stop cooking the rice a few minutes before it’s done (2-3 minutes earlier).
Let the rice rest in a large bowl, to speed up cooling you can spread the rice on a baking sheet at a max thickness of 0.39 inches.
If not used immediately, you can leave it to rest in the fridge, covered in a bowl.
Cut the mozzarella into strips with a thickness of 0.79 inches, 0.39 inches long, and 0.39 inches high.
Wet the spoon in cold water and take a spoonful of cold rice, place the rice on the palm of your wet hand and with the help of your index finger, create a hollow where you will place the mozzarella.
Take another spoonful of rice and place it on top of the other half, with your hands create an elongated ball making sure to leave the mozzarella in the center.
Repeat the operation until all the rice is finished, so you have all the balls ready to be breaded.
In a bowl, beat the egg with the help of a fork, pass the rice balls in egg and then in breadcrumbs. If you want a double coating, pass them again in the egg after the first coating and again in breadcrumbs.
Bread all the supplì and put the oil on high heat. The best way to fry supplì is to completely immerse them in the oil.
If you want a lighter cooking, use a pan with about 0.39 inches of oil and add all the supplì as soon as the oil is hot. Adding the supplì will raise the level up to half the thickness of the supplì.
Insert them one by one in clockwise order starting from the top (12 o’clock) so you know the order to turn them and can better monitor the cooking.
Why do supplì break or open? Because the rice is too dry or they were not compacted well, to avoid this you can do a double coating or freeze them and fry them frozen.
A few minutes (2-3 max) will be enough to achieve a perfect golden color.
Drain them and place them on a sheet of absorbent paper to remove any excess oil, salt to taste.
Supplì can be frozen and fried directly without defrosting in plenty of oil.
Your supplì at the phone are ready to be served!