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Lecho, popular here and in all European countries, is actually a national Hungarian dish. Having spread across the continent, it has undergone a lot of changes. In its homeland in Hungary, lecho is a hot dish made from bacon, tomatoes, sweet peppers and onions. The Germans always add smoked sausages or sausages to it. In Bulgaria, this is a twist that contains only tomatoes and bell peppers. We have a winter preparation of vegetables included in the Hungarian version of lecho, often with garlic, carrots, and hot pepper.
We prepare twists with and without vinegar, with red or green tomatoes, with mandatory pasteurization or simply placing hot vegetables in sterile jars. All such varied recipes have one thing in common - bell pepper lecho for the winter turns out very tasty and has been one of our favorite snacks for many years.
Lecho in Bulgarian
In Bulgaria, they love lecho very much, but for some reason they prepare it according to a simplified recipe.
Required Products
This twist is prepared without vinegar. For 6 0.5 liter jars you will need:
- red tomatoes – 3 kg;
- bell pepper – 2 kg;
- sugar – 1 glass;
- salt - approximately 2 tablespoons.
Preparation of lecho
Place the tomatoes in boiling water, then cool in cold water. Remove the skin and cut in half.
Divide the pepper into two halves, peel the seeds, remove the stem, and rinse under running water.
Cut the bell peppers and tomatoes into half rings 0.5 cm thick or a little more.
Stir with sugar and salt, let stand for 5-10 minutes so that the tomatoes release a little juice.
Place vegetables in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
Place a container with chopped vegetables on low heat, stir until the tomatoes release their juice and boil.
Cover the saucepan with a lid and cook the Bulgarian lecho at low simmer for 20 minutes.
Place the hot snack in pre-sterilized jars and roll up. Place it upside down, wrap it in an old blanket, and leave it until it cools.
We offer you a simple video recipe for lecho, prepared in a way very similar to the Bulgarian version:
It differs only in that the tomatoes do not need to be cut, but turned in a meat grinder, and the list of ingredients includes vegetable oil, a little vinegar and peppercorns.
Treatment for very lazy housewives
You may think that you already know the simplest recipe for bell pepper lecho.We will show that this is not so by proposing a quick cooking method that you can entrust to your daughter as a first experiment in preparing twists for the winter.
Required Products
For this recipe you will need a minimum set of products:
- bell pepper – 2 kg;
- tomato paste or sauce – 1 half liter jar;
- boiled water – 0.5 l;
- sugar, pepper, salt - optional.
Preparation of lecho
Free the pepper from seeds and stalks, cut into strips or small pieces.
Blanch the lecho pepper for a minute, then cool quickly.
Since lecho is prepared without vinegar, you can use any tomato paste, either store-bought or homemade, for it. You need to be careful when choosing the sauce. You can take any prepared for the winter yourself, but store-bought can only be stored for a long time, which is usually sold in a glass jar, not in plastic packaging.
Mix the tomato paste with water directly in the pan, add the bell pepper, and cook the lecho for 10 minutes from the moment it boils.
Add ground black pepper or peppercorns if desired, salt, sugar. Boil for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly. During this time, you need to have time to adjust the taste, so we do not recommend you leave the stove during the cooking process.
Place the lecho in sterile jars and screw on the previously boiled lids. Turn the workpieces upside down, wrap them in towels or a warm blanket, and set aside until cool. Put it away for storage.
Lecho in Zaporozhye style
This recipe for making lecho from bell peppers with tomatoes cannot be called the easiest. In fact, there is nothing complicated about it, despite the seemingly extensive list of products. But Zaporozhye-style lecho is not only aromatic and tasty, but also has an attractive appearance, as can be seen from the photographs presented.
Required Products
In order to prepare lecho according to this recipe, you will need:
- bell pepper – 5 kg;
- carrots – 0.5 kg;
- garlic – 2 heads;
- parsley – 3 g;
- dill greens – 3 g;
- hot pepper – 1 pc.;
- vegetable oil – 150 g;
- ripe tomatoes – 5 kg;
- sugar – 1 glass;
- vinegar – 75 ml;
- salt – 100 g.
Preparation of lecho
Wash the carrots, peel them, chop them into pieces so that they can be easily turned in a meat grinder.
Wash, remove, if necessary, the white spots from the stalks of the tomatoes, cut, combine with carrots and pass through a meat grinder.
Rinse the parsley and dill well and chop finely. Peel the garlic and then chop it, passing it through a press, or chop it with a knife.
In a thick-bottomed saucepan or cooking basin, combine the ground vegetables and herbs for winter preparation, stir, and set to cook.
When the lecho boils, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Wash the bitter and bell peppers well, remove the stems and seeds. Rinse under running water.
Finely chop the hot pepper, and sweet lecho for this recipe can be cut as you like, place in the boiling mixture.
Add sugar, salt and stir.
30 minutes after boiling, pour in vinegar.
The bell pepper lecho will be ready when it boils for another 15 minutes.
While still hot, pour it into sterilized jars, roll it up, turn it upside down, and wrap it in something warm.
Lecho without vinegar
This is a rather original recipe, which includes cucumbers. Lecho can be easily modified by cooking it with onions - the taste will be different. But how much and when to add it is up to you to decide. Pre-fried or sauteed onions will add sweetness, and added raw during the cooking process will add pungency.
Required Products
To prepare lecho you will need:
- tomatoes – 2 kg;
- cucumbers – 2 kg;
- bell pepper – 2 kg;
- garlic – 1 head;
- sugar – 1 glass;
- salt – 1 heaped tablespoon.
All vegetables must be fresh, undamaged, and of good quality.
Cooking method
Wash all vegetables thoroughly.
Scald the tomatoes with boiling water, cool under the tap, make cuts on the top, and remove the skin. If necessary, cut out the white areas adjacent to the stalk.
Cut the tomatoes randomly, put them in a saucepan and add salt - let them release a little juice.
Turn on the stove and bring the lecho to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly.
Remove seeds from sweet peppers, rinse and cut into pieces. If desired, you can simply cut small fruits into four parts.
Wash the cucumbers and trim the ends. Peel large fruits, cut into circles 0.5 cm thick or a little more. There is no need to peel young cucumbers.
Add peppers and cucumbers to the pan with tomatoes.
When the lecho boils, add sugar and chopped garlic (for this recipe you can even cut it into thin slices).
Boil, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Taste and add salt and sugar if needed.
Place the lecho in jars that have been sterilized in advance, roll it up, place it upside down and wrap it in a blanket.
Very harmful treatment
Why did we call the recipe that? Lecho contains honey, which is heat-treated. Both doctors and traditional healers have differing opinions on whether honey is harmful after heating above 40-45 degrees. We will not consider this issue in detail here.
Just note that honey is often included in confectionery products, and is also widely used in the East, for example, in China for preparing meat dishes. Decide for yourself whether you want to prepare lecho according to the suggested recipe. It turns out very tasty, but thanks to the same honey, it is quite expensive.
Required Products
You will need the following:
- bell pepper – 2 kg;
- vinegar - 1 glass;
- Refined sunflower oil – 1 cup;
- honey – 1 glass.
Cooking method
Peel the peppers from stalks and seeds, rinse thoroughly.
Cut it into not very large pieces and place it in sterile jars.
Combine honey, vinegar, vegetable oil. Mix thoroughly, although you will not achieve uniformity even using a mixer.
Place the dressing over low heat, stirring constantly, and bring to a boil.
Without removing the pan from the heat, pour the dressing into jars with pepper, cover with boiled lids, and roll up.
You may still have gas left, but most likely it won’t be enough. In order for the lecho to turn out right the first time, place the pieces of pepper in the jars very tightly to each other, but do not break them.
The honey-vinegar-oil mixture is not a cheap pleasure; the recipe is not designed for the pepper pieces to float freely.
Turn the jars upside down and wrap them in a warm blanket.
Conclusion
I hope our recipes are varied enough so that you can choose the one you like and prepare lecho. Bon appetit!
