With Bada Dashain just around the corner, households in Phalewas Municipality-2 of Parbat district have been busy baking sel roti, the traditional Nepali delicacy that takes centre stage during the festival. Locals preparing for the country's biggest celebration have been occupied for days making the sweet, ring-shaped rice bread, which holds special significance during Dashain. The rush to prepare sel roti reflects the deep bond between the food and the festival, as families get ready to serve it to the guests, relatives and family members who visit their homes during the celebrations. Local media, including a photo feature by Rato Pati and a report by Khabarhub, have captured villagers across the hill district rushing to make the delicacy as the festival nears.
The festive rush in Phalewas
In the villages of Phalewas Municipality-2, the days ahead of Bada Dashain have turned kitchens into the busiest corners of the home. The preparation of sel roti, long regarded as an indispensable part of the Dashain table, has kept locals occupied as they tick off items from their festival to-do lists. For many families, no Dashain feels complete without the aroma of freshly fried sel roti wafting through the house, and the preparations begin well before the main days of the festival.
Sel roti is not an everyday snack in the festival season. It is the food that defines the celebration, served proudly to anyone who walks through the door with festival greetings. The tradition of offering the delicacy to guests, relatives and family members who visit homes during Dashain adds to its importance, and it is precisely this custom that pushes households to prepare the bread in large quantities ahead of the festival days.
From soaked rice to a ring-shaped treat
The making of sel roti is a process that families have perfected over generations. The traditional method involves a handful of simple ingredients and a good deal of patience:
- Rice is soaked for several hours and then ground into a smooth, thick paste
- Sugar is mixed into the batter, with many households adding banana, cardamom or ghee for extra flavour and aroma
- The batter is poured in a circular motion into hot oil or ghee
- The bread is fried until it turns golden brown, taking on its signature ring shape, with a crisp outer layer and a soft interior
Every household has its own touch when it comes to the batter, and the skill of the person at the frying pan often becomes a talking point when guests gather. The freshly made sel roti is stacked in plates and kept ready, as the flow of visitors continues through the festival period.
A symbol of hospitality and togetherness
The importance of sel roti during Dashain goes far beyond its taste. In Nepali culture, the delicacy is a symbol of hospitality, and serving it to guests is considered a mark of respect and warmth. During Dashain, when relatives and family members travel long distances to visit their ancestral homes, the offering of sel roti along with other festival treats becomes a way of honouring those bonds.
Dashain is the time when families reunite, elders bless their juniors with tika and jamara, and homes fill with laughter and conversation. Food is central to all of these rituals, and sel roti sits at the heart of the festive menu. Its presence on the plate signals that the festival has truly arrived, and its preparation brings family members together in the kitchen, with tasks often divided among young and old alike.
For the people of Phalewas, the busy scenes of sel roti making are also a reminder of the rhythm of rural life in Nepal, where festivals are marked not by store-bought goods alone but by the hands-on effort of every household. The labour that goes into soaking, grinding and frying the batter is itself part of the celebration, passed down through the years.
Keeping a cherished tradition alive
Even as lifestyles change and urban markets offer ready-made alternatives, the tradition of baking sel roti at home continues to hold strong in villages like those in Parbat district. The preparation of the delicacy ahead of Bada Dashain is a practice that binds generations, as recipes and techniques are handed down within families.
The sight of locals in Phalewas Municipality-2 busy over their frying pans in the days leading up to the festival is a small but vivid illustration of how Dashain is welcomed across Nepal: with family, with tradition and with the unmistakable taste of sel roti. As the festival days arrive, the tables of these hill villages will be laid with stacks of golden, ring-shaped breads, ready to be shared with every guest, relative and family member who comes to celebrate together.
