Tava

Saj bread being baked on a convex saj

A Palestinian woman baking markook bread on a saj in a West Bank village

A tava(h), tawa(h), tapa, saj, or sac is a large, flat or concave or convex disc-shaped frying pan (dripping pan) made from metal, usually sheet iron, cast iron, sheet steel or aluminium. It is used in South, Central, and West Asia, as well as in Caucasus, for cooking a variety of flatbreads and as a frying pan. It also sometimes refers to ceramic frying pan.

In West Asia, tava/saj are invariably convex, while in South Asia, both flat and concave versions are found.

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  Flat Indian Tawa
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  Concave Indian Tawa
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  Reversible Azerbaijani sadj with handles

Etymology

In nearly all Indo-Aryan languages such as Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu tawaa means cooking pan^[1] and is used in South Asia, including India and Pakistan. It is cognate with the Persian word tāve (تاوه‏),^[2] which is used in Iran, and with the Georgian tapa (ტაფა); while the Turkic name saj (lit. sheet-metal and written saç or sac in Turkish and ṣāj (صاج) in Arabic)^[3][4] is used in Southwest Asia, with overlap in Pakistan and Afghanistan.^[5] The word tava is also used in Bosnian, Croatian, Romanian and Turkish and refers to any kind of frying pan. In Bulgaria, flat ceramic сач or сачѐ (sach/sache) are used for table-top cooking of thin slices of vegetables and meat; тава (tava), on the other hand, are metal baking dishes with sides. In Pashto it is more popularly known as Tabakhey (تبخے/طبخی).

Uses

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  Markook being prepared on a saj
• 
  A roti being baked on a tava
• 
  Gözleme, a filled Turkish bread, being baked on a sac
• 
  Manasir woman preparing qurasah (قراصة), the daily bread on Sherari Island in Dar al-Manasir in Northern Sudan

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 a same time or to make rumali roti.

Vegetables fried in a tawa

Aloo chat being cooked in a large tava

In South Asia, tavas are also used to fry foods called chaat, pav bhaji, taka tak bhaji, tawa bhaji, tava fry, tawa masala, etc.

Fish frying in a tawa

Meat is also cooked on a saj. The traditional Georgian chicken tapaka is cooked on a tapa.

See also

• Sač, a cooking utensil used in the Balkans with a saj-shaped lid
• Mongolian barbecue, a Taiwanese grill dish sometimes using a saj-like frying pan.
• Comal (cookware), a similar utensil in Mexican cuisine
• Mittad

Notes

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tava.