Shil Nora (Sil Batta)– stone spice grinder

My kitchen appliances range from old gadgets (used by my grandmother) like Mortar and Pestle to new appliances like the Food Chopper. I mean, isn’t it fascinating when a food chopper chops all the ingredients within a few seconds or when the Nutri Bullet makes a fine paste of poppy and mustard seeds for the Macher Jhal (fish curry)! However, whenever I have a food related discussion with my mom, I cannot help but wonder the types of kitchen gadgets we used to have a few decades ago. Last week while talking with mom about fish curry we started discussing about the old stone grinder – Shil Nora and I thought this interesting simple grinder should be on my blog because it’s possible many people don’t know about this. Shil Nora at least a couple years back was an important part of the Indian kitchen (also called as Batan Una in Hindi), however in many homes like mine it has been replaced with modern appliances.

Growing up, I have seen my mom devote at least 10- 15 minutes everyday for making different types of pastes like mustard and green chilies for the Macher Jhal or poppy seeds for the Alu Posto and she used to make all these different types of pastes using her Shil Nora. So now let me tell you how this simple grinder works.

Shil Nora consists of a flat stone which we Bengalis call Shil and a grinding stone called Nora. To make a paste we simply put the spices in the middle area of the flat stone and sprinkle some water on it. We then hold the ends of the grinding stone in each hand and press the spices with it. The grinding is done slowly in a rocking motion and every once in a while the grainier spices are pushed back in the center of the Shil so that they can be grinded again.

My mom is still so fond of using her Shil Nora, that she rarely connects the food processor for making the pastes. Her excuse is, Shil Nora gives her a better control over the consistency of the paste and I do agree with her on this point. I think Shil Nora is a handy and useful gadget. It doesn’t run on electricity and almost all types of pastes can be grinded on it. However, it is not something, which suits my needs. First, the Shil is very heavy and yes its fun to use it once in a while but when you are in a hurry, it gets quite tiresome. Second, Shil is quite bulky and difficult to clean every time we are using it. Third, I love cooking, but I like to do things efficiently and quickly and using any manual gadget slows down the preparation time. You really need a good practice to make smooth pastes using Shil Nora within a short time. Therefore, I use Nutri bullet, which does the same thing only more efficiently and quickly.

Talking about Shil Nora brings me back the memories of the flavorful fish curry which my mom prepares. She specially mixes some poppy seeds in the paste for me, as I like a lighter version of the curry. Although I am a good cook but there is nothing in the world like the food, cooked by my mom. 

“Nothing beats mom’s cooking”

Recommended reading:

• Mortar and Pestle
• Food Chopper and its Importance in Our Kitchen
• Know more about Posto (Poppy Seeds)
• Nutri Bullet – now cook gourmet foods whenever you want