Sicilian arancini, symbol of the authentic Street Food By Italy, an ancient dish, consumed with religious respect. A dough of plain cooked rice is stretched into discs about ten centimeters in diameter, filled with a ragù core or other ingredients, closed like a casket, breaded and fried. Their origin is probably Arabic, especially in the original saffron variant. The name refers to the oranges of the nearby "Golden Basin", whose shapes the authentic arancini take.
Some attribute the idea of breading Sicilian arancini to Frederick II, who supposedly asked to devise a way to transport this dish on hunting trips. The outer coating allows, in fact, better preservation as well as easy transport, characterizing the excellent Sicilian arancini as an ideal support for work in the fields.
Arancini, synthesis of Sicilian culture, a "sacred", recipe not to be confused with the "supplì". They are the protagonists of December 13 (St. Lucia’s feast), a day when the people of Palermo, avoiding flour-based dishes, predominantly eat arancini. They were also given the title of Andrea Camilleri’s short story collection "The Arancini of Commissioner Montalbano“.
