18/10/2023
Rice zeppole or “crispelle”, timeless, classic end of meal for lavish winter Sunday lunches in Catania and its province…
Ingredients:
250 g rice (ribe or roma)
625 dl milk
100 or 125 g 00 flour
13 g brewer’s yeast
50 g sugar
salt to taste or approximately 8 g
grated zest of 1 orange
a pinch of cinnamon
peanut seed oil
200 g of honey
powdered sugar
Method:
Bring the milk to the boil with the cinnamon. Add the salt, pour in the rice and cook over low heat until the milk is completely absorbed by the rice.
Then remove the rice from the heat and, once lukewarm, add the flour, sugar, grated orange peel and yeast dissolved in a little hot water. Knead well, cover with cling film and leave to rise for a couple of hours.
Once the rice zeppole preparation has risen, detach pieces from it and shape them into many small cylinders about 1.5 cm thick. and 8-10 cm long.
Fry the rice donuts over low heat in plenty of hot oil, turning them from time to time until they are golden brown, and place them on absorbent paper so that they lose the excess oil. Then transfer the Catania rice dumplings onto a serving plate and pour over the hot honey and some icing sugar mixed with a pinch of cinnamon.