Tomatoes are used in countless recipes and often have to be diced. Doing so is a simple and quick operation, within everyone's reach, and a little practice is enough to obtain an excellent result. Any variety of tomato can be diced and added to a salad, soup, stew, and many other dishes.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Dicing the Round Shaped Tomatoes
Step 1. Wash the tomatoes
Before starting to cut them it is important to wash them under running water. Make sure you remove any dirt or other impurities. Also remove any adhesive labels.
Step 2. Remove the green part
You can get rid of it using a teaspoon; just insert the tip at the edge of the green part and rotate it. Once removed, throw it away.
Step 3. Cut the tomato in half
Hold it steady with one hand and divide it into two equal parts using a sharp knife. Place it upside down on the cutting board and cut it exactly in half.
Step 4. Slice each half
Place the cut side on the cutting board and make a series of vertical cuts to get slices about an inch thick.
Hold the tomato still with your free hand as you slice it
Step 5. Cut the tomato slices into cubes
Turn the slices 90 ° and make vertical cuts that allow you to obtain evenly sized cubes. Hold the tomato still with your free hand and make sure the cuts are evenly spaced. At the end you will have obtained a series of cubes.
Method 2 of 3: Dice the Elongated Tomatoes
Step 1. Wash the tomatoes
Wash them one at a time under running water. Turn them in your hands to remove dirt and impurity from the entire surface. Also, remove any adhesive labels before you start cutting them.
Step 2. Cut the top end of the tomato
Eliminate the upper part, the one where the petiole was, with a clean horizontal cut.
If the green part is very small, it may not need to be deleted. Decide according to your tastes
Step 3. Cut the tomato in half
Divide it in two by cutting it vertically. Place it on the cutting board and hold it steady with your free hand as you cut it. Try to divide it into two equal parts.
Step 4. Cut the two halves into vertical strips
Turn them 90 ° on the cutting board to slice the tomato lengthwise. Make vertical cuts to slice the tomato into thin, even strips.
Since elongated tomatoes are smaller in diameter than round ones, be very careful how you position your fingers to keep them steady as you cut them. Use only your fingertips and keep them out of the path of the blade
Step 5. Cut the tomato slices into cubes
Turn them 90 ° on the cutting board and make a series of vertical cuts at an even distance to obtain evenly sized cubes. This will produce a series of diced tomatoes.
Make sure the cuts are evenly spaced to get evenly sized cubes
Method 3 of 3: Remove the seeds from the tomatoes before cutting them
Step 1. Cut the tomatoes in half
Make a vertical cut exactly in the center. Try to get two halves of uniform size.
Step 2. Cut each half into quarters
Take half of the tomato and place it flat side down on the cutting board, then cut it in half first and then divide each piece in half again. Repeat with the other half of the tomato. Eventually each half will have been divided into 4 uniformly sized pieces.
Step 3. Remove the seeds
Place the tomato wedges on the cutting board, one at a time, with the skin facing down. Take the knife and run the blade along the pulp attached to the peel to remove the gelatinous part enclosing the seeds. Together with the seeds you will also remove the central part of the tomato which is generally whitish.
As you remove it, the gelatinous part may break and some seeds may stick to the pulp. If so, remove them gently with your fingers
Step 4. Do not remove seeds from very small tomatoes
Generally, tomatoes of the cherry or datterino variety tend to have few seeds and it is difficult to eliminate them without damaging the pulp. Also, dicing them is risky because they are extremely delicate. Perini tomatoes also normally have few seeds, so there is no need to remove them.
Step 5. Finished
Now you can use the diced tomato as you like.
