I Have Flour In My Blood!

Rissóis

I don’t have a clue if non-portuguese people have a name for this.
But it’s pronounced, Ree-soys, with a strong ‘r’. The singular is Ree-sol (Rissol).
It’s typical portuguese dish, everybody knows what rissóis are.
It’s a fried breaded pastry with a béchamel based filling, with chicken/meat/fish/sea food.

Some people buy it frozen and fry it at home. Easy way.
My grandma used to make it in the old days; my mom never did.
The other day, my mom had some left over bolognese ground meat.
And she was like: What do we do with this?
I ended up searching for rissóis’ recipes and making it, for the first time ever.
I admit, I wasn’t prepared. And to 'help’, I doubled the recipe because I had a lot of leftover bolognese.
It’s not hard, it’s just a bit long, specially the first time, when you have no clue of what you’re getting yourself into.
I didn’t shot any pictures that time :/

But, I made them again on friday, with chicken instead of ground meat.
Jesus christ, I was full and still eating just because it was so tasty.

Rissóis
Yields around 36

Dough:

600 g (21.1 oz) all purpose flour
90 g (3.1 oz) margarine (or butter)
487 ml (16.4 oz) water
487 ml (16.4 oz) milk
salt to taste

Meat filling:

1 onion (I’m gonna be honest, I can’t stand onion pieces, so I skip this and it’s still great, but the onion will add flavor, of course.)
625 ml (21.1 oz) milk
70 g (2.4 oz) margarine (or butter)
80 g (2.8 oz) flour (I use half corn starch, half all purpose flour)
500 g (17.6 oz) meat (bolognese, most of the sauce drained; shredded meat; any type of meat works, we usually use leftovers)
30 g (1 oz) chorizo (bacon should work too)
salt to taste
pinch of white pepper (or black pepper)
around 1 tbsp of finely chopped parsley
(If you don’t use bolognese meat, I advise you to add a tbsp of tomato sauce)

Chicken filling:

1 onion
625 ml (21.1 oz) milk
70 g (2.4 oz) margarine (or butter)
80 g (2.8 oz) flour
500 g (17.6 oz) shredded chicken meat (roast chicken, cooked chicken…)
salt to taste
pinch of white pepper
around 1 tbsp of finely chopped parsley

Shrimp filling

1 onion
625 ml (21.1 oz) milk
70 g (2.4 oz) margarine
80 g (2.8 oz) flour
Enough tiny shrimp to fill all the rissóis
salt to taste
pinch of white pepper
around 1 tbsp of finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp tomato sauce (optional)
you can add a bit of sea food stock, to add a bit of flavor.

Dough:

In a pot, pour the water, the milk, the margarine and the salt, in medium fire.
While the margarine is melting, weigh/measure the flour and start adding it little by little, always stirring. It’s a dough, so don’t add more water, unless my conversions to ounces are wrong lol (~~blame the internet!~~)
Check the salt!
It’s quite possible that it won’t come out of the pot perfect, with lumps and all. No worries. Drop it on a floured surface and let it cool for a bit.
While it’s cooling you can make the filling.

Filling:

Chop the onion really fine and cook it with the margarine, until it’s translucent.
Measure the milk, add the flour (like I said, I use half corn starch, half all purpose flour), mix it well (I like to use a fork, no lumps!) and add the milk mixture to the onion. Stir well. If you have to add the tomato sauce, that would be now.
Add the salt, pepper and parsley and stir.
Add the shredded chicken/meat/whichever filling you want (*) and mix it well. It’s supposed to be thick and not runny. But hey, you can add a drop or two of milk, I had to with the chicken filling; I thought it was too thick. Check the salt, very important!

If you’re making the shrimp filling, don’t add the shrimp yet. Unless you prefer to use a bigger amount of shrimp and chop them, then you can add it to the filling.
Usually the shrimp rissóis that I eat have one shrimp per rissol, placed when you’re making them.

(*) I only knew the most popular rissóis: meat, chicken, shrimp, whitefish.
Then, after a research I found tuna, shrimp & whitefish, vegetables, ham & cheese…Basically, anything will do.

Let the filling cool down completely, because it’ll thicken and that’s what you want. Runny filling won’t work!

Now that your dough is good to hand, knead until it seems even and smooth.
Take a ball, size of an apple or smaller, and put the rest aside. Why not roll all the dough at once? Because this dough easily absorbs the flour and it will stick to the surface.
Roll it, not too thick nor too thin - nobody likes it too thick but be careful to not make it thin, it’ll be difficult to handle.

Drop a spoon of the filling on the dough (I use a dessert spoon), (if you’re doing the shrimp ones, put the shrimp on top of the filling), fold it and press the dough a bit, making sure there’s no air around the filling.

Get a wide cup, leave a margin between where the filling is and the cut area. If you cut too close to the filling, it will open while frying.
Cut it and press the edges all around, to make sure it won’t open.

Whisk 2 eggs (I use XL, so if you use smaller, you might need more) in a deep plate, and in another plate put breadcrumbs (or, you can grind cornflakes, which gives a super crispy texture and absorbs less oil, in my opinion).
Cover the rissol in egg, then cover it in breadcrumbs/cornflakes and it’s ready to fry or to freeze. Don’t ask me how long it’ll hold, I have no idea.

Deep fry works, but I’ve been frying in a frying pan, halfway filled with oil.
Remember the filling and the dough already are cooked, you only need to make them golden.

They are only good right out of the frying pan; if you re-heat them in the microwave, it won’t be the same thing…
Though, my dad likes to eat them cold.

These are also great as appetizers.

And next time, I’ll make them with onion, but use the hand blender before adding the rest :P

Now, I’m sorry for not posting for such a long time and thank you so much for your patience <3

Enjoy!
(Let me remember you that feedback is always welcome, and any doubts, I’m here to help! :)