thumb|A concave tawa designed for use in a home kitchen

A tava(h) / tawa(h) (mainly on the Indian subcontinent), saj (in Arabic), sac (in Turkish), and other variations, is a metal cooking utensil. The tawa is round and is usually curved: the concave side is used as a wok or frying pan, the convex side for cooking flatbreads and pancakes. There are also flat tawas.

The Indian tava might have a handle or not, and it can be made of cast iron, aluminium, It may be enameled or given a non-stick surface. The tawa and saj are used in the cuisines of South,

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, Hindi and Urdu means cooking pan. In Afghanistan, the curved cast-iron utensil used for cooking bread is known as tawah, with the equivalent sac in Turkish, and is used in Southwest Asia. The name "sac" comes from Old Turkish "sāç". In Iran, saj is used for the curved iron plate employed in cooking bread

The sač 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 tabletop cooking of thin slices of vegetables and meat (for the meaning of tava in those same countries, see here-above).

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Pita.jpg|Pita being baked on a convex saj

Food_Gechresh_Azerbaijan_01.jpg|Reversible Azerbaijani sac with handles

Markouk - Bread on Saje.jpg|Markouk being baked on a convex saj

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Uses

A tava or saj is used to bake a variety of leavened and unleavened flatbreads and pancakes across the broad region: pita, naan, saj bread, roti, chapati, paratha, dosa, and pesarattu. In Pakistan, especially in rural areas, large convex saj are used to cook several breads at the same time or to make rumali roti.

In Turkey and the Levant, a saj is used to make the starch wafers used in güllaç.

Besides making bread, a tava or saj can be used as a pan to cook meat and vegetables, or other foods. For example, sajiyeh () is a dish made by frying meat and vegetables (typically bell peppers) in olive oil on a saj, popular in Jordan and Palestine.

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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 in Northern Sudan

File:صاجية الدجاج.jpg|Sajiyeh in Jordan, made from chicken and vegetables

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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

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See also

  • Comal (cookware), a similar utensil in Mexican cuisine
  • Karahi, a similar utensil in Indian cuisine
  • Mittad
  • Griddle, a flat cast iron used in frying
  • Skillet, a frying pan with a long handle
  • Mongolian barbecue, a Taiwanese grill dish sometimes using a saj-like frying pan
  • List of cooking vessels

References

Sources

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