Cypriot Pomilorotigania Tomatoes With Eggs

Name: Cypriot pomilorotigania tomatoes with eggs
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients: 4 medium tomatoes 600g; olive oil; ¼ tsp salt; ¼ tsp mint; pinch of black pepper; 4 eggs

Cypriot tomatoes with eggs scrambled (ntomates me avga) is a popular summer dish called pomilorotigania. Kagianas aka strapatsada is what the Greeks call their version. Us Cypriots decide to go with the longer word that I’m pretty sure has Italian roots as “pomodoro” means tomato in Italian… The second part of the word pomilorotigania – “tigania” means fried. So it literally translates to what this dish entails, which is fried tomatoes.

Image of the tomatoes getting diced on the chopping board

It is very common in Cyprus to mix eggs with anything that is in the fridge or in season, just like zuchhini and potatoes scrambled eggs. Tomatoes with eggs is eaten any time of the day and is also a popular hot mezze at tavernas in Cyprus.

Simple ingredients

Typically the Greek version of “ntomates me avga” has feta stirred through it but not the Cypriot way. Simple ingredients include fresh ripe tomatoes, eggs and dried mint (or oregano) which I love adding! It is summer now in Australia so the tomatoes are absolutely bursting with flavour.

Quick and easy process

A lot of people tend to peel the tomatoes before making this dish, but I leave the skin on. The tomatoes don’t seem to release excessive amounts of juice and I don’t make large batches of it. I also think it has to do with the fact that I dice the tomatoes instead of grating them, so they don’t release too many liquids.

Hence the riper the tomatoes are and the more you use, the more cooking time is needed to evaporate the liquids. Alternatively you can place the chopped tomatoes in a colander over a bowl with some salt and let the juices run out for 20 minutes or so.

Image of the tomatoes and egg stirred through to combine

Making tomatoes with eggs simply requires frying off the tomatoes using extra virgin olive oil, allowing the tomatoes to soften and the juices to evaporate a little bit before adding the beaten eggs. In the end the scrambled eggs with tomato should still be runny enough to “dip” your bread in and not dry.