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Fermentation Atlas

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 from the rice 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. The longest step, soak the rice, takes 4 h (Thapa Magar B 2021). Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Enterococcus faecium, Pediococcus pentosaceus and Lactobacillus curvatus do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4 hReported[thapamagar2021]Soak the rice
Temperature205–215 °CReported[thapamagar2021]Pour rings into hot oil and fry

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceParts by weight from one tested recipe (Thapa Magar et al. 2021, without its soy flour). Home recipes vary.
100 partsRice flour · From rice soaked 4 hours before milling[thapamagar2021]
25 partsSugar[thapamagar2021]
12.5 partsGhee · Cream or butter are also used[thapamagar2021]
30 partsWater[thapamagar2021]
Soybean oil or ghee · For deep frying[thapamagar2021]
Starterspontaneous; lactic bacteria and yeasts from the rice and the kitchen

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.3 h

Start
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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

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