Sel Roti

Sel roti is a sweet Nepali food made by pouring rice batter into hot oil in a ring and frying it. The outside turns golden brown, while the inside puffs up and stays soft. The hole makes it look like a doughnut. However, the ring is not made from shaped wheat dough. It is formed from a thick, pourable rice batter.

Sel roti on display in Kalimpong, India. 2021, Praana07 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Downscaled version from the source; content not altered after retrieval.

Pounding Rice and Drawing Rings in Oil

Rice is soaked in water, drained, and pounded into flour. Sugar and ghee are added, and the batter is adjusted with water or milk and then left to rest. Ghee is a fat made by removing water and other components from butter. Some methods recorded in Sikkim also add wheat flour, cream, or spices. In some methods, yeasts and lactic acid bacteria become active while the batter rests. The proportions and resting time vary from household to household.

Nepali cooking researcher Jyoti Pathak says that her family mashes ripe bananas into the batter and uses no milk or spices. Households also differ in how they grind the rice: some grind it finely, while others leave it somewhat coarse. Each cook’s choices about what to add and how long to rest the batter make their sel roti different.

The batter is poured into hot oil by hand or from a ladle, tracing a circle. The batter joins up as it flows into the oil. The cook turns it over with a stick, and it fries into a distinctive large ring. In various parts of Nepal, metal or bamboo sticks are also used. Sel roti can be enjoyed freshly fried or after it has cooled, and each has its own appeal.

Making sel roti by pouring batter by hand into oil. 2008, Ashishlohorung / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Downscaled version from the source; content not altered after retrieval.

From Festival Baskets to Town Shops

Sel roti is made for special occasions such as Dashain, Tihar, and weddings, and it is also popular at tea shops in Kathmandu. A study in Sikkim records a wedding custom in which the groom’s side puts freshly fried sel roti in a basket and presents it to the bride’s parents. It is sometimes served with potato curry, pickled beans, or meat, so the sweet rings share the table with savory dishes.

A Nepali newspaper has featured the life of Aruna Gurung, who makes sel roti in Kathmandu and delivers it to shops. She started by making it for her neighbors’ celebrations. At the time of the interview, her husband, Gyan Bahadur, ground the rice, packed the finished rings, and carried them to the shops. She used rice flour, ghee, and sugar, and she combined two kinds of rice. Sel roti is shared in households, and it also depends on people like her who make it in town and deliver it to shops.

Sel roti being fried and sold at the Bihibare market in Kalimpong, West Bengal, India. 2026, PansanLepcha / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Downscaled version from the source; content not altered after retrieval.

The Ring Shape and Related Rice Sweets

Babari is made from the same rice batter but cooked in a round shape, while sel roti has a hole in the center. According to one oral account, people made the batter into a ring because flat babari used to be hard to turn over. This is only one of the stories about how sel roti came about. There are also several theories about the name, including one that links it to a rice variety, and no single origin has been established.

Yomari is another Nepali sweet made with rice. It is made by wrapping a sweet filling in a rice-flour skin and steaming it. Sel roti has no filling. It is enjoyed for the outer surface of the ring, which is poured straight into the oil, and for its puffed interior.

Glossary