''Supplì'' (; Italianization of the French word ) are

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

snacks consisting of a ball of rice (generally

risotto Risotto (, , from meaning "rice") is a northern Italian rice dish cooked with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency. The broth can be derived from meat, fish, or vegetables. Many types of risotto contain butter, onion, white wine, and Pa ...

) with tomato sauce, typical of

Roman cuisine Roman cuisine comes from the Italian city of Rome. It features fresh, seasonal and simply-prepared ingredients from the Roman Campagna.Boni (1930), pg. 13. These include peas, globe artichokes and fava beans, shellfish, milk-fed lamb and goat, ...

. Originally, they were filled with chicken

giblets Giblets is a culinary term for the edible offal of a fowl, typically including the heart, gizzard, liver, and other organs. A whole bird from a butcher is often packaged with the giblets, sometimes sealed in a bag within the body cavity. The ...

, mincemeat or (a kind of cheese from

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), now also with a piece of

mozzarella Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...

; the whole morsel is soaked in egg, coated with

bread crumbs Bread crumbs or breadcrumbs (regional variants including breading and crispies) consist of crumbled bread of various dryness, sometimes with seasonings added, used for breading or crumbing foods, topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thicken ...

and then fried (usually

deep-fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Norma ...

). They are closely related to Sicilian ''

arancini Arancini (, , , ) are Italian rice balls that are stuffed, coated with breadcrumbs and deep fried, and are a staple of Sicilian cuisine. The most common arancini fillings are: ''al ragù'' or ''al sugo'', filled with ragù (meat or mince, slow ...

'' and croquettes. ''Supplì'' can be also prepared without tomato sauce ( "white-style ''supplì''"). They are usually eaten with the fingers: when one is broken in two pieces, mozzarella is drawn out in a string somewhat resembling the cord connecting a

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

handset to the hook. This has led to these dishes being known as ("telephone-style ''supplì''", in reference to cables). ''Supplì'' were originally sold at , typical Roman shops where fried food was sold. Now they are commonly served in most pizzerias all around Italy as an

antipasto Antipasto (plural antipasti) is the traditional first course of a formal Italian meal. Usually made of bite-size small portions and served on a platter from which everyone serves themselves, the purpose of antipasti is to stimulate the appeti ...

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