Traditional tools in our ancient kitchen

Housewives in Sri Lanka have said goodbye to traditional equipment and replaced it with new technical products such as gas cookers, electric ovens, blenders, electric stoves, grinders, microwaves, vegetable cutters, and other culinary appliances. To make the kitchen more organized, they made pantry cardboard, contemporary shelves, and spice storage containers.

True, contemporary kitchens are clean and easy to use, but consider how simple the old kitchen was. There are numerous classic items used in an ancient kitchen; I hope this essay will remind you of some of them.

Because rice and curries are our primary foods, old housewives prepare them in traditional clay pots. These pots are made using a potter's wheel with red or black clay. Later, burn them in a kiln to harden them. Traditionally, rice is also cooked in a pot on the stove. This was known as bath muttiya, which is a round pot with a narrow entrance.

Nembiliya, another culinary utensil made of clay, is used to wash rice and separate the grains from chaff and small stones. Inside the nembiliya, various lines and grooves have been carved.

Kulla (winnower) is used for a variety of purposes. Ancient housewives regularly threshed rice before cooking, therefore Kulla (winnower) had a significant role in the old-style kitchen. In the ancient kitchen, there was a special location to hang kullla which is called a ‘Kulu Ana’.

In Sri Lanka, mortar and pastel are vital kitchen tools for food preparation. This item has two sections, the base of which is constructed of stone or wood. When all of the ingredients are placed in a stone or wooden pot, a long round wooden stick known as a molgaha pounds and crushes them. The primary use of this item is grinding.

Another essential tool in the traditional kitchen is the Grinding Stone. This is one of the oldest cooking equipment used in traditional kitchens. This is known as 'Mirisgala', and it consists of two stones used for chopping ingredients. It is made from a flat stone as the base and another cylindrical stone as a rolling pin. It is mostly used to produce delicious pol sambal and katta sambal.

Coconut milk and grated coconut are commonly used in our cuisine. Therefore, another kitchen tool known as a coconut scraper (Hiramanaya) used for shredding coconut, is an essential item in our ancient kitchen.

Coconut shell spoons (polkatu handi) are commonly used for preparing and serving curries on plates. The spoons' heads are created from the lower half of coconut shells that have been cleaned with sandpaper, and the handles are made of coconut tree wood.

Another often used equipment in our kitchen is the wok (thachchiya), which was used for deep drying and preparing sweets such as kaum and kokis. Currently, it is used to make hoppers, therefore, it is called the hopperwok.

There were many more objects used in previous kitchens, but with the progress of new technology, all of these items have been moved to the back of the modern kitchen and replaced with modern products for our housewives' convenience.

Thank you for reading my post.