Dhekhi, the traditional rice grinding tool

Hello friends,

Hope you all are well.
Today I am going to introduce a traditional rice grinder with you all. We call it Dhekhi. When there was no automatic rice grinding machine, Dhekhi was used in our village area.

I can still remember those days when my grandma used to use this manual grinding equipment. With this manual equipment you can grind many food items. Rice and pulses were mostly common among all. My grandma along with my mother and aunts did the rice grinding till the midnight with it.

This equipment was used mostly in winter season. There was a significant reason behind it. In winter season people of Bangladesh like to enjoy various local Pithas(traditional cake of Bangladesh). To make Pitha, rice is the most important ingredient. As there was no rice grinding mills at that period of time, this Dhekhi was used to grind rice.

As you have seen in the pictures, Dhekhi is made from wood. There is a main body of Dhekhi which is quite long. There is also a head made from wood which mainly hit the rice to grind it. This manual equipment is run bye legs. The feet is placed on the bottom of Dhekhi and pressed gently. Then you have to release the pressure and the head of Dhekhi will come down and hit the materials.

Yesterday, I went to my hometown. In the afternoon, I went to one of my uncle’s house. There I found this Dhekhi. I was surprised seeing this Dhekhi after long time. I was more surprised when I saw they prepared some winter cakes for me with this Dhekhi grinding rice. Here is the Pitha picture.

I can still remember my sweet memories from the childhood when many guests came to our house and enjoyed winter cakes made from this Dhekhi grinding rice. Here are some more pictures.

With the blessings of technology we are now more advanced in every sector. Now, we are using everything automated including food preparation. Now, people don’t even make cakes at home. We purchase all from super shop. But, the love and affection related with those homemade cakes, you will not find from the purchased ones.

Last but not the least, this traditional Dhekhi is almost lost from our village area. All are now memories. Really sweet memories!

Here all the pictures were captured using my iPhone 11 Pro Max mobile phone. Thanks for stopping by.