Arancini - my sister prepares famous Italian street food for you

Arancini are famous Italian street food originating from Sicily.
It is made from rice enriched with saffron to which various fillings are added.
After filling, the rice is shaped into an orange shape and fried in deep oil.
The history of arancina is very interesting.
It all started during the Arab domination of Sicily, which, in addition to culture and art, brought their typical cuisine to that island.
The use of Arabic spices influenced Sicilian cuisine, which is why we have this wonderful saffron in arancini.
The Arabs actually ate rice timbale, which was served by placing a large plate of rice in the middle of the table and everyone would take a handful of rice from it and put different fillings on it.
Deep-frying arancini only developed later thanks to the fact that this form of stuffed rice was easier to transport, especially to take to the fields or on the road in primitive food packaging at the time.
Fillings naturally developed as customs developed, so today we have many typical fillings depending on the climate.
In this video, you can see how my sister Ivanka makes arancini.
Ingredients for masa with rice:
500 g arborio rice or other rice for risotto
1.2 l of water
about 10 g of salt
30 g of butter
100 g of grated parmesan cheese
one bag of saffron or about 0.12 g
Filling ingredients:
1 eggplant
300 g of cherry tomatoes
1 fresh mozzarella
Olive oil
salt
Ingredients for frying:
200 g smooth flour
300 ml of water
about 3 g of salt
about 300 bread crumbs
Oil for frying, about 700 ml
Preparation
First, prepare the mass with the rice so that it cools down.
Put 500 g of arborio rice or other risotto rice in cold water.
Add a total of 10 g of salt to the water in which the rice is cooked.
No more salt is needed because we add parmesan, which is very salty.
Stir the rice several times while it is cooking.
After 5 minutes of cooking, add saffron to the rice.
The rice should be cooked until it has absorbed almost all the water.
Add 30 g of butter and mix.
Turn off the stove and add 100 g of grated parmesan cheese.
Try to see if it is salty enough and if not, then add a little more salt.
Leave the rice to cool completely.
You can make fillings for aranci as you wish.
My sister makes eggplant and tomato stuffing.
First, peel and dice one eggplant.
Add salt to the eggplant and leave it for about 30 minutes to release the water.
Cut about 300 g of cherry tomatoes and fry them in a little olive oil. Just add a little salt to the tomatoes.
When the tomatoes are stewed, transfer them to a bowl to cool.
When the eggplant has released its water, rinse it with lukewarm water and squeeze it.
Also fry the eggplant in olive oil, but do not add salt if it is not necessary.
When the eggplant is fried, transfer it to the mass with tomatoes.
Also cut the mozzarella into cubes.
When the rice for arancini has cooled, take some rice in your hand and shape it like a nest.
Be sure to watch how this is done in the video.
Inside, put two teaspoons of tomato and eggplant filling and two mozzarella cubes.
Gather the rice near the end to make a ball.
Add more rice if needed to form a ball.
MASS FOR FRYING
When you have shaped all the balls, make the dough for frying.
Mix 200 g of flour, about 3 g of salt and start adding water as if you were making pancake batter.
All in all, 300 ml of water is needed.
Put about 300 g of breadcrumbs in another plate.
Put about 700 ml of oil in a deep pan and heat it enough for frying. The oil should be heated to about 140 °C.
Only when the oil is heated, take one orange, put it in the mixture with flour, squeeze it well and put it in the breadcrumbs.
After that, put it in oil.
We fried 4 oranges at a time.
Fry the oranges until they turn yellow and the color will become a little darker when they are removed from the oil.
It is not necessary to fry them for too long because all the ingredients are already cooked.
Place the fried arancini on kitchen paper and serve.