Sel Roti () is a traditional Nepalese ring-shaped sweet fried dough made from rice flour. It is mostly prepared during Dashain and Tihar, widely celebrated Hindu festivals in Nepal as well as Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sikkim regions in India. The dish is popular throughout Nepal and among the Nepalese diaspora. Sel roti is made from a batter of rice flour, water sugar, ghee, and spices which is then deep fried in cooking oil. Origin and etymology Dinesh Raj Panta, a professor at Nepal Sanskrit University estimates this dish to be over 800 years old. According to Madhulika Dash, an Indian food columnist, the dish was made bland many years ago, without sugar and spices. Over the years with intermingling of various ethnicities of Nepal, the dish has reached in its modern form. Dash also estimates that sel roti may have been a modified form of Babari, a Nepalese rice pancake. Babari is made of the same batter but is cooked like a pancake on a shallow griddle while sel roti is ring shaped and deep fried on a karahi. The name of the dish is assumed to be derived from Sel, a variety of rice that grows in the foothills of Nepal. Roti in Nepali translates to bread. Another theory also suggests that the name of the dish is from Saal, Nepali word for year. Since the dish was developed to be a ceremonial dish made on Nepalese new year, it may have been called Saal roti, which later had become Sel roti. Preparation and ingredients It is made of rice flour with added flavours. A batter is prepared by adding water, sugar, and ghee to roughly grinded rice flour. The ghee can also be substituted by cooking oil or butter. Spices such as cardamom and clove could also be added to the batter. The ingredients are then let to rest for a couple of hours. Once the batter is set, it is deep fried in cooking oil or ghee. Instead of water, milk can also be used to prepare the batter. However, using milk can reduce the shelf life of the dish. The dough is poured by hand in a ring shape into boiling oil and cooked on medium heat (around 348 °F to 373 °F) until it turns light brown on both sides. Two metallic or wooden sticks (known as in Nepali language), each about long, are used