tava

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 flatbreads and pancakes. The Indian tawa might have a handle or not, and it can be made of cast iron or aluminium, or of carbon steel. The utensil may be enameled or given a non-stick surface. The tawa and saj are used in the cuisines of South, Central, and West Asia, as well as of the Caucasus and 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 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, but in Pashto it is more popularly known as tabakhey. The Georgian cognate is tapa.