A tava(h) / tawa(h) (mainly on the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

), 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 Concave or concavity may refer to: Science and technology * Concave lens * Concave mirror Mathematics * Concave function, the negative of a convex function * Concave polygon, a polygon which is not convex * Concave set * The concavity In ca ...

side can be used as a

wok A wok (; Pinyin: ; Cantonese ) is a deep round-bottomed cooking pan from China. It is believed to be derived from the South Asian karahi. It is common in China and similar pans are found in parts of East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as ...

frying pan A frying pan, frypan, or skillet is a flat-bottomed pan used for frying, searing, and browning foods. It is typically in diameter with relatively low sides that flare outwards, a long handle, and no lid. Larger pans may have a small grab han ...

, 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 Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

, 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 A non-stick surface is engineered to reduce the ability of other materials to stick to it. Non-stick cookware is a common application, where the non-stick coating allows food to brown without sticking to the pan. Non-stick is often used to refer ...

. 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 West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

Asia, as well as of the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

and the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. 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 Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word ''tāve'' () is used which is derived from 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 The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...

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 Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

it is more popularly known as ''tabakhey'' (). The

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

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 are employed for baking in an oven, but it can also mean

tray A tray is a shallow platform designed for the carrying of items. It can be fashioned from numerous materials, including silver, brass, sheet iron, paperboard, wood, melamine, and molded pulp. Trays range in cost from inexpensive molded pulp tray ...

, such as used for serving food and drink."tavă"
at DEX online. Accessed 22 Dec 2021. 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 sac with handles Markouk - Bread on Saje.jpg,

Markouk Markook bread ( ar, خبز مرقوق, khubz marqūq), also known as ''khubz ruqaq'' ( ar, رقاق), ''shrak'' ( ar, شراك), ''khubz rqeeq'' ( ar, رقيق), ''mashrooh'' ( ar, مشروح), and saj bread ( ar, خبز صاج), is a kind of Mid ...

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 Naan ( fa, نان, nān, ur, , ps, نان, ug, نان, hi, नान, bn, নান) is a leavened, oven-baked or tawa-fried flatbread which is found in the cuisines mainly of Western Asia, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, Ma ...

saj bread Saj bread ( ar, خبز صاج, khubz ṣāj, tr, sac ekmeği) or tava bread ( hi, तवा रोटी, tavā roṭī) is unleavened flatbread in Middle Eastern and South Asian cuisines baked on a metal griddle, called ''saj'' in Arabic and ' ...

roti Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is popular in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Trinid ...

chapati Chapati (alternatively spelled chapatti, chappati, chapathi, or chappathi; pronounced as IAST: ), also known as ''roti'', ''rotli'', ''safati'', ''shabaati'', ''phulka'', (in East Africa) ''chapo'', (in Marathi) ''poli'', and (in the Maldives) ...

paratha Paratha () is a flatbread native to South Asia, prevalent throughout the modern-day nations of India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad a ...

dosa Dosa may refer to: People * Bogoljub Mitić Đoša, Serbian actor * Csaba Dosa (born 1951), Romanian athlete * Dosa ben Harkinas * Dosa ben Saadia (935 - 1018), Talmudic scholar and philosopher * Dosa or Dossa Júnior * Edward Dosa-Wea Neufville ...

, 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 Rumali roti also called Manda. It is eaten with tandoori dishes. The word ''rumal'' means handkerchief in many north Indian languages, and the name ''rumali roti'' means handkerchief bread. In Punjab, it is also known as lamboo roti. Lamboo si ...

. File:Woman Baking Bread on Saj Oven in Artas, West Bank, Palestine.JPG, A

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

woman baking ''markook'' on a saj in a West Bank village File:Fulka Roti.jpg, A

being baked on a tava File:Gözleme Break (6335105588).jpg,

Gözleme Gözleme is a savory Turkish stuffed turnover. The dough is usually unleavened, and made only with flour, salt and water, but gözleme can be made from yeast dough as well. It is similar to bazlama, but is lightly brushed with butter or oil, wh ...

, a filled bread, being baked on a sac File:Preparation of qurasah.jpg,

Manasir The Manasir people ( ar, المناصير) constitute one of many Sunni Arab riverine tribes of Northern Sudan. They are not to be confused with the Manasir of the Persian Gulf region in the Arabian Peninsula-based mainly in the United Arab Emira ...

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 Alu chat (also spelled as alu chaat, aloo chat, or aloo chaat) is a street food originating from the Indian subcontinent, it is popular in North India, West Bengal in Eastern India, Pakistan, parts of Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and Trinidad a ...

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