Tava
A tava / tawa, saj, sac, 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 tawa might have a handle or not, and it can be made of cast iron, aluminium, or carbon steel. It may be enameled or given a non-stick surface. The tawa and saj are used in the cuisines of cuisine of the [Indian subcontinent|South], Central, and West Asia, as well as of the Balkans. The tawa is also used in Indo-Caribbean 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. 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, but in Pashto it is more popularly known as tabakhey. The Georgian cognate is tapa.Saj, sac
Saj is the equivalent of tava in Arabic, 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.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 is a metal baking tray with raised margins. In Romanian and Albanian too, tava and "tavë" can mean baking tray, such as employed for baking in an oven, but it can also mean tray, such as used for serving food and drink.The sač is a saj-shaped lid used as a cooking utensil in the Balkans. In Serbia and Bulgaria, the flat ceramic сач or сачѐ is used for tabletop cooking of thin slices of vegetables and meat.
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 in olive oil on a saj, popular in Jordan and Palestine.