Content
Lecho, popular in our country and in all European countries, is actually a national Hungarian dish. Having spread across the continent, it has undergone a lot of changes. At home in Hungary, lecho is a hot dish made from bacon, tomato, sweet pepper and onion. 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 harvesting of vegetables included in the Hungarian version of lecho, often with garlic, carrots, hot pepper.
We prepare a spin with and without vinegar, with red or green tomatoes, with mandatory pasteurization or simply laying out hot vegetables in sterile jars. All such various recipes have one thing in common - the bell pepper lecho for the winter turns out to be very tasty and has been one of our favorite snacks for many years.
Bulgarian lecho
People in Bulgaria are very fond of lecho, but for some reason they cook it according to a simplified recipe.
Necessary products
This curl is prepared without vinegar. For 6 jars of 0.5 liters, you will need:
- red tomatoes - 3 kg;
- bulgarian pepper - 2 kg;
- sugar - 1 glass;
- salt - about 2 tablespoons.
Cooking lecho
Dip the tomatoes in boiling water, then cool in cold water. Remove skin, cut in half.
Divide the pepper into two halves, peel from seeds, remove the stalk, rinse under running water.
Cut the bell peppers and tomatoes into half rings 0.5 cm thick or slightly more.
Stir in sugar and salt, let stand for 5-10 minutes, so that the tomatoes let juice a little.
Place the vegetables in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
Put a container with chopped vegetables on a quiet fire, stir until the tomatoes let juice and boil.
Cover the saucepan with a lid, cook the Bulgarian lecho at a low boil for 20 minutes.
Put a hot snack in pre-sterilized jars, roll up. Place upside down, wrap in an old blanket, leave to cool.
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 need not be cut, but cranked in a meat grinder, and the list of ingredients includes vegetable oil, a little vinegar and peppercorns.
Lecho for very lazy housewives
Perhaps you think you already know the simplest recipe for bell pepper lecho. We will show that this is not the case by proposing a quick cooking method that can be entrusted to your daughter as the first experiment in preparing twists for the winter.
Necessary products
For this recipe, you need a minimum set of products:
- Bulgarian pepper - 2 kg;
- tomato paste or sauce - 1 half liter jar;
- boiled water - 0.5 l;
- sugar, pepper, salt - optional.
Cooking lecho
Free the pepper from seeds and stalks, cut into strips or small pieces.
Blanch the lecho peppers for a minute, then refrigerate quickly.
Since lecho is prepared without vinegar, you can take any tomato paste for it, both store and homemade. With the choice of sauce, you must not miss. You can take any one prepared for the winter on your own, but the store one - only for long-term storage, which is usually sold in a glass jar, and not in plastic packaging.
Stir the tomato paste with water right in the saucepan, lay the bell pepper, from the moment it boils, cook the lecho for 10 minutes.
Pour in black pepper or its peas 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 that you leave the stove during the cooking process.
Arrange the lecho in sterile jars, tighten the lids boiled in advance. Turn the blanks upside down, wrap them in towels or a warm blanket, set aside until they cool. Put away for storage.
Lecho in Zaporozhye
This recipe for making bell pepper lecho with tomatoes cannot be called the easiest. In fact, there is nothing complicated in it, despite the seemingly extensive list of products. But the Zaporozhye lecho turns out not only fragrant and tasty, but also has an attractive appearance, as can be seen from the presented photos.
Necessary products
In order to cook lecho according to this recipe, you will need:
- bulgarian pepper - 5 kg;
- carrots - 0.5 kg;
- garlic - 2 heads;
- parsley greens - 3 g;
- dill greens - 3 g;
- bitter pepper - 1 pc.;
- vegetable oil - 150 g;
- ripe tomatoes - 5 kg;
- sugar - 1 glass;
- vinegar - 75 ml;
- salt - 100 g.
Cooking lecho
Wash, peel, chop the carrots so that they can be easily rotated in a meat grinder.
Wash, remove, if necessary, white spots near the stalks of tomatoes, cut, combine with carrots and mince.
Rinse the parsley and dill well, chop finely. Peel the garlic, and then chop it, passing it through a press, or chop with a knife.
In a saucepan with a thick bottom or a cooking bowl, combine ground vegetables and herbs for winter preparation, stir, set to cook.
When the lecho boils, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Wash the bitter and bell peppers well, remove the stalks and seeds. Rinse under running water.
Finely chop the hot pepper, and the sweet lecho for this recipe can be cut as you like, put in a boiling mixture.
Add sugar, salt and stir.
Pour in vinegar 30 minutes after boiling.
The bell pepper lecho is ready when it boils for another 15 minutes.
While still hot, pour it into sterilized jars, roll it up, turn it upside down, wrap it with something warm.
Lecho without vinegar
This is a pretty original recipe that includes cucumbers. Lecho can be easily modified by cooking with onions - the taste will be different. But how much and when to add it - decide for yourself. Pre-fried or sautéed onions will add sweetness, and added raw during the cooking process will add spice.
Necessary products
To prepare lecho you will need:
- tomatoes - 2 kg;
- cucumbers - 2 kg;
- Bulgarian pepper - 2 kg;
- garlic - 1 head;
- sugar - 1 glass;
- salt - 1 heaped tablespoon.
All vegetables must be fresh, undamaged, of good quality.
Cooking method
Wash all vegetables thoroughly.
Scald the tomatoes with boiling water, cool under the tap, make cuts on the top, remove the skin. If necessary, cut out the white spots adjacent to the stalk.
Chop the tomatoes at random, put them in a saucepan and salt - let the juice go a little.
Turn on the stove, bring the lecho to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly.
Peel sweet peppers from seeds, rinse, cut into pieces. If you wish, you can simply cut the small fruits into four parts.
Wash the cucumbers, cut off the ends. Large, peel the fruits, cut into circles 0.5 cm thick or slightly more. You do not need to peel off young cucumbers.
Add pepper and cucumbers to a saucepan with tomatoes.
When the lecho boils, add sugar and chopped garlic (for this recipe, you can even cut it into thin slices).
Simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Try it, add salt, sugar if necessary.
Arrange the lecho in pre-sterilized jars, roll up, put upside down and wrap up with a blanket.
Very harmful lecho
Why did we name the recipe that way? The composition of lecho contains honey, which is heat-treated. Opinions about whether honey is harmful after heating above 40-45 degrees were divided by both doctors and traditional healers. 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 cooking meat dishes. Whether to cook lecho according to the proposed recipe, decide for yourself. It turns out to be very tasty, but thanks to the same honey, it is quite expensive.
Necessary products
You will need the following:
- bulgarian pepper - 2 kg;
- vinegar - 1 glass;
- refined sunflower oil - 1 glass;
- honey - 1 glass.
Cooking method
Peel the peppers from the stalks and seeds, rinse thoroughly.
Cut it into not very large pieces, arrange in sterile jars.
Combine honey, vinegar, vegetable oil. Mix thoroughly, although you will not achieve uniformity, even using a mixer.
Put the dressing on a low heat, stirring constantly, bring to a boil.
Without removing the saucepan from the heat, pour the dressing into jars of pepper, cover with boiled lids, roll up.
You may still have a gas station, but most likely it will not be enough. To make the lecho work right the first time, put the pieces of pepper in the jars very tightly to each other, but do not break them.
The honey-vinegar-oil mixture is not cheap, the recipe is not designed for the pieces of pepper to float freely.
Turn the jars upside down, wrap them in a warm blanket.
Conclusion
I hope our recipes are varied enough so that you can choose the one you like and make lecho. Enjoy your meal!
