How to Dice a Tomato
There's nothing like a fresh tomato, especially right off the vine in season. They are sweet and juicy, and frankly you don't have to do much to them to make them taste great. I'll frequently just put a quick dice on a tomato and toss it with some pasta and basil for a simple quick meal. This kind of dice is also great to fresh salsa's and salads..
Here's a quick demo on how to dice a tomato. Prepping food is always the most boring part of cooking, but you can make it go faster by getting good at your knife skills. The faster you move, the more you can do, and the better time you'll have. This process works well if you don't want to de-seed the tomato.
How to Dice a Tomato
Frankly, it’s a pretty simple process, the most important thing is to use a sharp knife. That's going to make life a lot easier for you. Also, when you're cutting, make sure you use a sawing motion to do most of the work. If you use just a bit of pressure, you'll avoid crushing the tomato and turning it into mush.
- Use your knife to remove the top (where the stem connects) and the bottom of the tomato. Throw away the ends.
- Alternatively you can use a pairing knife to dig out the steam
- With the tomato now resting the freshly cut bottom - which is flat and now stable - use a sawing motion to create "planks" about a quarter inch wide. It may take a few passes for the knife (depending on sharpness) to cut through the skin, but be patient, it will happen
- Once you have the planks, divide them in half, or a smaller number (whatever you're most comfortable handling) and slice through the planks creating match sticks or french fry shapes. Again use that sawing motion, and the cuts should be about 1/4 inch apart.
- Once you have your match sticks, turn them 45 degrees so they are perpendicular to you, and cut through again at a 1/4 inch to make a dice
Go ahead and work through the whole tomato, and you should end up with a nice 1/4 inch dice. These dice are great to toss into a light dish, a salsa, or salad.
Enjoy!!
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