Sel roti

Ingredients

• Rice — soaked overnight600 g
• Sugar150 g
• Ghee60 g
• Milk150 ml
• Banana1
• Ground cardamom1 tsp
• Ground cloves½ tsp
• Oil for frying1.5 l
• Salt1 pinch

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Soak the rice in cold water overnight, drain it and pat it dry with a cloth.

   12 min

2. 2

   Grind the wet rice in a blender with the milk to a smooth thick paste without grit.

   20 min

3. 3

   Work in the sugar, melted ghee, mashed banana, cardamom, cloves and salt.

   8 min

4. 4

   Beat the batter by hand for twenty minutes in circular movements, working air into it.

   22 min

5. 5

   Let the batter stand an hour; it ferments slightly and turns bubbly.

   62 min

6. 6

   Heat the oil to 165 °C and pour the batter into it in a ring, in one continuous movement.

   10 min

7. 7

   Fry two minutes a side, turning with two chopsticks, to a golden colour.

   30 min

About the dish

The rice is soaked overnight and ground wet into a paste. Bagged rice flour gives a different texture — dense, without the lightness fresh-ground grain provides.

The batter is beaten by hand for twenty minutes. That is not stirring: the air worked in by hand is what makes sel roti porous inside.

The ring is formed by pouring the batter into the oil in a thin stream, in a circle. A spoon or piping bag gives an even ring, but the true method is straight from the palm.

Worth knowing

• — The batter should flow in a continuous stream without pouring freely. Too thin it spreads into a pancake; too thick it drops as a lump.
• — Turn them with chopsticks or skewers through the hole. A spatula breaks the ring in half.
• — Sel roti is made for Tihar and Dashain, and in those days it is fried by the bucketful. It keeps a week without staling.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

380 kcal

Protein

5 g

Fat

14 g

Carbs

60 g

More from Nepal

• Momo — Nepali steamed dumplings of buffalo or chicken with an achar of charred tomato.
• Dal bhat — Lentil soup with rice and a vegetable tarkari. Nepal's everyday meal, eaten twice a day for a lifetime.
• Gundruk soup — A sour soup of fermented dried greens with potato, soybeans and chilli.