Cypriot Courgettes with Eggs (Kolokouthkia me tafka)

In July every Cypriot garden produces more courgettes than anyone can use, and this is where a good many of them end up. Sliced, fried patiently in olive oil until the edges go golden and sweet, then bound with eggs and covered in grated halloumi.

It is the courgette equivalent of strapatsada, and like strapatsada it is a dish about patience rather than skill. Courgettes rushed over a high heat go grey and watery. Given fifteen unhurried minutes they caramelise at the edges and turn genuinely sweet, which is the entire flavour of the finished pan.

Cypriots eat it at any hour. It appears at breakfast with bread and olives, at lunch with a tomato salad, and at midnight when someone comes in hungry. The eggs make it a meal, and the halloumi makes it Cypriot.

Key preparation steps

1. Slice courgettes and salt them briefly to draw out water.
2. Fry slowly in olive oil until golden at the edges.
3. Pour in beaten eggs and stir gently.
4. Take off the heat while still soft and add halloumi.

Should I salt the courgettes first?

It helps a great deal. Fifteen minutes with a teaspoon of salt in a colander draws out a surprising amount of water, and water is what stops courgettes browning.

Pat them dry before they go in the pan. If you are short of time you can skip this, but then fry in a wider pan and in two batches, because crowded wet courgettes will steam themselves grey no matter how good the oil is.

How thick should the slices be?

About half a centimetre, cut across into rounds, or into half-moons if the courgettes are large. Thin enough to soften and colour in fifteen minutes, thick enough not to collapse into pulp when the eggs are stirred in.

Very large end-of-season marrows are best halved lengthways with the watery seeded core scooped out first, since that core will never fry and only releases liquid into the pan.

How do I keep the eggs soft?

Take the pan off a high heat before the eggs go in, pour them over, and stir slowly with a wooden spoon over low heat. They should be barely set and still glossy when you stop.

Residual heat keeps cooking them in the pan and again on the plate, so pull it about thirty seconds before it looks ready. Overcooked, the eggs go dry and rubbery and squeeze water out into the dish, which is exactly what you spent fifteen minutes avoiding.

What else goes in it?

Grated halloumi over the top is the standard Cypriot finish and it should go on off the heat so it softens rather than turning to rubber. Fresh mint or dried mint stirred in with the eggs is very common.

Some households add a grated tomato with the courgettes, which makes a wetter, redder version closer to strapatsada, and some add sliced potato fried alongside. Both are traditional. What nobody in Cyprus adds is cream.

What matters in this dish