Sweet Arancini with Indian Rice Pudding

Italian arancini meets Indian kesar kheer. My version of these sweet arancini is filled with creamy Indian rice pudding that's laced with saffron. Dip them in a golden white chocolate sauce to make the perfect east-meets-west fusion dessert!

If you want a recipe that will have your friends, family or guests in awe of your culinary skills, you need to make these Indian rice pudding balls! They're crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and completely irresistible.

Rice kheer has always been a part of our festive menu - it's rich, comforting, and fragrant. Over the years, I’ve also enjoyed plenty of vegetarian Sicilian arancini, but I never imagined the two could come together.

Recently, while experimenting with a savoury Indian-fusion arancini, I thought: why not try a sweet version too? A few recipes I came across used egg, but I wanted to keep mine completely egg-free. Thanks to my trials with the savoury version, I had already perfected the coating; the challenge was finding the right filling.

In the end, I created a thicker, English rice pudding–style kheer, and it worked beautifully – creamy inside, crisp outside, and utterly indulgent.

I then coat in a simple cornstarch slurry before breading with panko. All that's left is deep-frying.

Notes on Ingredients & Flavours

Basmati rice - traditionally, kheer is made with basmati so that's what I have used here. You can also use pudding rice.

Milk - I've trialled with whole milk (3.5% fat UK) and semi skimmed milk (1.5% fat UK) and both work well.

Condensed milk - I like using condensed milk rather than sugar because it gives a stickiness to the kheer. It makes it easier to shape into balls and hold that shape when frying. I don't add too much as the arancini will be served with a sweet sauce. If you aren't planning on making a sauce, add a little more condensed milk for sweetness.

For the flavours, I wanted to honour the classic "kesar pista" combination that I've used in my kesar pista ice cream, kesar pista coconut ladoo with condensed milk & kesar pista badam barfi.

Saffron - saffron threads are the best but you can use saffron essence.

Nuts - I've used finely chopped pistachios but you could also add almonds.

Cardamom powder - I add cardamom powder to the kheer and to the panko breadcrumbs. Afterall, its the main spice in Indian desserts!

Panko breadcrumbs - I've tested this recipe only with panko breadcrumbs for the breading. I crushed down the panko into a fine crumb so they're easier to coat. Also, they look more uniform. We want these looking pretty, right?

Cornflour - needed to make the cornstarch slurry. I tried the recipe with a thin and a thick slurry. For me, the thin slurry worked a lot better. Too thick and the arancini took longer to cook and tried to split open in the oil. (No good).

Golden Spiced White Chocolate Sauce

This chocolate sauce is a take on kesar lachha rabdi and basundi. Basically I wanted creaminess and Indian flavours combined in a thick sauce you can either drizzle or dip. Using chocolate was the perfect answer - sweet and adds thickness too.

White chocolate - I've used regular white chocolate bars, chopped into chunks.

Cream - I've gone for double cream which is nice and thick for this sauce.

Saffron - I add a few threads whilst the sauce is still warm to allow for max infusion.

Cardamom - a hint of cardamom complements the intense sweetness.

See how I used this leftover white chocolate in these badam halwa chocolate truffles.

As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!

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