Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cereals and bread from Nepal, Darjeeling and Sikkim

Sel rotiसेल रोटी

Soaked rice is ground into flour and beaten into a sweet batter with sugar, ghee and water. The batter rests while lactic bacteria and yeasts work in it, then it is poured in rings into very hot oil and fried for about half a minute. The result is a puffed, spongy, golden-brown ring.

Fully documentedCereals and bread5.3 h – 13 h

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceParts from one tested recipe (Thapa Magar et al. 2021, the control without soy flour). Home recipes vary.
Rice flour100 partsFrom rice soaked 4 hours before milling[thapamagar2021]
Sugar25 parts[thapamagar2021]
Ghee12.5 partsCream or butter are also used[thapamagar2021]
Water30 parts[thapamagar2021]
Soybean oil or gheeFor deep frying[thapamagar2021]

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.3 h – 13 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
Close-up: water moving into a grain

What changes: Rice soaks in water and softens

Step 1 of 5
Soak the rice
Time
4 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts
Moulds

Output: soaked rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Soaked rice is ground into flour and beaten into a sweet batter with sugar, ghee and water. The batter rests while lactic bacteria and yeasts work in it, then it is poured in rings into very hot oil and fried for about half a minute. The result is a puffed, spongy, golden-brown ring. Made in 5 steps over 5.3 h – 13 h. The longest step, rest the batter, takes 1–9 h (Thapa Magar B 2021) and runs at 30 °C (Dahal S. and Katawal S.B. 2014). Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Enterococcus faecium, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Lactobacillus curvatus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step1–9 hReported[thapamagar2021][khapudang2018][dahal2014]Rest the batter
Temperature30 °CReported[dahal2014]Rest the batter

What makes this one different

Sel roti is a sweet rice batter fried in rings in hot oil. In the tested recipe the batter stood 60 minutes before frying.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Soy-enriched sel rotiIn one sensory trial, 10 % roasted soy flour in place of part of the rice flour scored best, and 15 % and 20 % normal soy flour scored lower than 10 %.

Safety

In a batter-ageing study the batter held lactic bacteria, yeasts and moulds together; mould counts fell during ageing at 30, 40 and 50 °C. Frying finishes the batter in about 33 seconds in oil at 205–215 °C. Sel roti is praised for a storage life of about two weeks at room temperature (Thapa Magar et al. 2021, citing Yonzan and Tamang).

Hazards the sources name: Moulds in the batter (their count fell during ageing at 30, 40 and 50 °C in one study).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Sel roti has long been a prasada (offering) in Hindu rituals and festivals, and ancient Hindu texts such as the Puran and the Swasthani Bratakatha mention it, according to Thapa Magar et al. (2021). It is served at weddings, pujas and festivals such as Dasai, Tihar and Maghe Sankranti. Eaten by Nepali communities in Nepal, India and Bhutan, it has become a popular snack across Nepal, where it is also made without fermenting.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [thapamagar2021] Thapa Magar B., Katawal S.B., Niroula A. 2021, Enhancement of sensory and nutritional quality of Sel-roti by the incorporation of soy flour, Food Science & Nutrition 9(11):6078–6088paper
  2. [khapudang2018] Khapudang R., Sharma S. and Joshi V.K. 2018, Indigenous fermented food products of Eastern and Western Himalayan region, a review, International Journal of Food Fermentation Technology 8(2):119–139paper
  3. [dahal2014] Dahal S. and Katawal S.B. 2014, Effect of batter ageing on microbial, physiochemical changes and sensory quality of Sel-roti, Journal of Food Science and Technology Nepal 8:12–17 (abstract)paper
  4. [s1] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review, diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377 (lists selroti microbes from Yonzan and Tamang 2010)paper