ខ្ទះ

The curve is what the pan is for. Heat pools at the bottom and the food is kept moving up the sides and back down, so a small amount of oil and one hot spot can cook a whole dish. Change what goes in and the pan changes job: a spoon of oil for a stir-fry, a few inches for deep-frying spring rolls, water and a rack for steaming, more water for soup. One pan, one fire, most of a meal.

Over charcoal the fire itself cannot be turned down, so the cook controls the dish by lifting and tilting the pan instead. Thin carbon steel suits that — it heats and cools quickly, and it answers to the hand rather than to a dial. It also blackens with use, and the blackening is not dirt: oil polymerised onto the metal over many fires is what keeps food from sticking, which is why a khteah is wiped out rather than scrubbed back to bare steel.

It is the pan behind char kroeung, loc lac, fried rice, and the shallots fried crisp for scattering over noodles and soups. For a home stovetop rather than an open flame, Cambodian Cookbook recommends a flat-bottomed khteah and proper seasoning, so the pan sits steady and still takes the fast, high heat a stir-fry depends on.

Source: Cambodian Cookbook — Kitchen Equipment