A ''tava(h)'' / ''tawa(h)'' (mainly on the Indian subcontinent), ''saj'' (in Arabic), ''sac'' (in Turkish), and other variations and combinations thereof, is a metal-made cooking utensil. The tawa is round and can be flat, but more commonly has a curved profile, and while the concave side can be used as a wok or frying pan, the convex side is used for cooking

flatbread A flatbread is a bread made with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pizza and pita bread. Flatbreads ran ...

s and

pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a Starch, starch-based batter (cooking), batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or fryi ...

s. The Indian tawa might have a handle or not, and it can be made of cast iron or aluminium, or of

carbon steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...

. The utensil may be enameled or given a non-stick surface. The tawa and saj are used in the cuisines of

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

, and West Asia, as well as of the Caucasus and the Balkans. The tawa is also used in

Indo-Caribbean Indo-Caribbeans or Indian-Caribbeans are Indian people in the Caribbean who are descendants of the Jahaji Indian indentured laborers brought by the British, Dutch, and French during the colonial era from the mid-19th century to the early 20th c ...

cuisine.

Names by region

Taaba, Tava, tawa

In Iran, the Persian word ''tāve'' () is used which is derived from the Persian word taaba which means something that is curved or tempered. The root word ''taab'' in Persian is a verb which means to bend or temper or curve (but see here-below for the use of ''saj'' in Iran). It is cognate with ''tawaa'', a word which in nearly all Indo-Aryan languages such as

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

, Hindi and Urdu means cooking pan. In Afghanistan, the curved cast-iron utensil used for cooking bread is known as ''tawah'', but in Pashto it is more popularly known as ''tabakhey'' (). The Georgian cognate is ''tapa'' ().

Saj, saç

''Saj'' (, ''lit.'' sheet-metal) is the equivalent of ''tava'' in Arabic, with the equivalent ''saç'' or ''sac'' in Turkish, and is used in Southwest Asia. In Iran, ''saj'' is used for the curved iron plate employed in cooking bread (but see here-above for the use of ''tāve'' in Iran).

Variants, change of meaning

The word ''tava'' is also used in Turkish and all across the Balkans, and refers to any kind of frying pan. In Serbia and Bulgaria however, a ''тава'' (''tava'') is a metal baking tray with raised margins (for the meaning of ''sach'' in those same countries, see here-below). In Romanian too, ''tava'' can mean

baking tray Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferre ...

, such as employed for baking in an oven, but it can also mean tray, such as used for serving food and drink. The

sač Sač ( cyrl, Сач) is a large metal or ceramic lid like a shallow bell with which bread dough or various dishes to be baked are covered, and over which ashes and live coals are placed. Dishes prepared in a ''sač'' are evenly cooked, retain t ...

is a saj-shaped lid used as a cooking utensil in the Balkans. In Serbia and Bulgaria, the flat ceramic ''сач'' (''sach'') or ''сачѐ'' (''sachè'') is used for table-top cooking of thin slices of vegetables and meat (for the meaning of ''tava'' in those same countries, see here-above). Pita.jpg,

Pita Pita ( or ) or pitta (British English), is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket, als ...

being baked on a convex saj Food_Gechresh_Azerbaijan_01.jpg, Reversible

Azerbaijani Azerbaijani may refer to: * Something of, or related to Azerbaijan * Azerbaijanis * Azerbaijani language See also * Azerbaijan (disambiguation) * Azeri (disambiguation) * Azerbaijani cuisine * Culture of Azerbaijan The culture of Azerbaijan ...

sac with handles Markouk - Bread on Saje.jpg, Markouk being baked on a convex saj

Uses

A ''tava'' or ''saj'' is used to bake a variety of leavened and unleavened

s and

s across the broad region:

pita Pita ( or ) or pitta (British English), is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket, als ...

, naan, saj bread, roti, chapati, paratha, dosa, and

pesarattu Pesarattu, pesara attu, pesara dosa (mung bean dosa), or cheeldo is a crepe-like bread, originating in Andhra Pradesh, India, that is a variety of dosa. It is made with green gram (''moong dal'') batter, but, unlike a typical dosa, it does not ...

. In Pakistan, especially in rural areas, large convex ''saj'' are used to cook several breads at the same time or to make rumali roti. File:Woman Baking Bread on Saj Oven in Artas, West Bank, Palestine.JPG, A Palestinian woman baking ''markook'' on a saj in a West Bank village File:Fulka Roti.jpg, A roti being baked on a tava File:Gözleme Break (6335105588).jpg, Gözleme, a filled bread, being baked on a sac File:Preparation of qurasah.jpg, Manasir woman preparing ''qurasah'' (قراصة), the daily bread on Sherari Island in

Dar al-Manasir Dar al-Manasir ( ar, دار المناصير) is the region of the Fourth Cataract, the most impassable of all rapids of the Nile. It is the homeland of the Arab tribe of the Manasir and from them gets its name. Still today the water rapids cannot ...

in Northern

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

File:Tawa sabji.jpg, Vegetables fried in a tawa File:Aloo chaat vendor, Connaught Place, New Delhi.jpg, Aloo chaat being cooked in a large tava File:Fishes_fried_in_Dosai_pan.JPG, Fish frying in a tawa

References

Sources

* * * * {{Cooking Techniques Cooking vessels Pancakes Middle Eastern cuisine South Asian cuisine Central Asian cuisine Pakistani food preparation utensils Indian food preparation utensils Bangladeshi food preparation utensils