How to cook lecho at home? This issue becomes especially relevant at the very end of summer. After all, it is at this time of year that all the necessary vegetables ripen on the beds, from which you can make a very delicious sauce for the winter. If you do not know how to cook lecho, then we offer you some recipes for its preparation.
General information
Preparations for the winter under the name "lecho" have become very popular in our country recently. This happened in the early 90s, when the first jars with a fragrant and very tasty snack appeared on store shelves. It should be noted that lecho is a national dish of Hungarians.
Recipes of this preparation were passed from generation to generation. However, each mistress brought his own changes to his cooking. As a result, today there is an unprecedented number of diverse ways to create this delicious and simple dish. As for the traditional Hungarian lecho recipe, it involves the use of fried bacon in a pan. If you want to use the Bulgarian method of cooking, then you should adhere to minimalism. After all, the inhabitants of this state make a delicious lecho exclusively from sweet pepper and ripe tomatoes.
In our country, housewives prefer to make such a harvest from many different vegetables. So, eggplants, carrots, cucumbers, onions and even zucchini are often used. It should also be noted that almost every Russian mistress has her own personal recipe for cooking this delicious snack.
Cooking quick lecho of bell pepper as a side dish
Typically, such a dish is procured for the future. Indeed, in the winter, sometimes I really want to open a jar of aromatic lecho and enjoy the taste of juicy vegetables in tomato. But often this dish is also used as a regular side dish. To do this, stew the vegetables on low heat, adding all the necessary spices, and then immediately distribute them on plates and serve to the table along with meat or sausages.
Thus, to prepare a tomato lecho as a side dish, you should purchase:
- soft ripe tomatoes - 4 pcs.;
- hot pepper - 2 pods;
- large onions - 2 pcs.;
- fresh Bulgarian pepper - 10 pcs.;
- fresh greens (parsley, dill) - in a small bunch;
- black pepper and small salt - apply to taste.
Food processing
Before cooking lecho, all prepared vegetables should be carefully processed. To do this, peel fresh bell peppers and onions, and then chop them into thin strips. Next, cut fresh tomatoes into small cubes. As for capsicum, it should be finely chopped.
Heat treatment
After preparing the components, you need to take a deep frying pan, put onions, hot and sweet peppers in it, and then pour in about 100 ml of water and simmer for 10-11 minutes under a closed lid. Next to the vegetables, you need to add chopped tomatoes, fine salt, fresh chopped herbs and black allspice to taste. After mixing all the ingredients, they should be stewed for exactly another half an hour.
Proper serving
Now you know how to cook lecho as a delicious side dish. After the vegetables have completely cooled, they must be kept under a closed lid for ¼ hour, and then served. It should be noted that this dish is ideally suited to grilled sausages, pasta and meat.
Cooking lecho for the winter
If you really like a spicy snack, which can be opened at any time of the year and presented to the table, then we recommend making it yourself. This will require:
- refined vegetable oil - 250 ml;
- fresh Bulgarian pepper - 3 kg;
- gruel from fresh tomatoes - 1 l;
- table vinegar 6% - 1 cup;
- fresh medium-sized carrots - 1 kg;
- granulated sugar - about 250 g;
- small table salt - 2 tbsp. spoons (you can slightly larger to taste).
Ingredient preparation
To make lecho with carrots, you should wash the tomatoes well and grind them into pulp using a blender or meat grinder. As a result, you should get about 1 liter of thick tomato juice. Next, you need to peel the bell peppers from the stalks and seeds, and then cut them into not very large slices. As for carrots, they should be peeled and grated on a large grater.
Cooking process
After processing all the ingredients, proceed directly to cooking lecho for the winter. To do this, mix table vinegar, vegetable oil and tomato puree in a deep saucepan, and then add granulated sugar and table salt. All ingredients must be mixed and brought to a boil. Next, chopped bell pepper and finely grated carrots should be put in the dishes.
Final stage
After boiling the vegetables for about 10-14 minutes, it is necessary to start laying them out in sterilized jars. Next, the container should be rolled up with lids, turned upside down and wrapped in a blanket. After the workpieces have completely cooled, they need to be removed to the cellar. Opening such an appetizer immediately is not recommended. Indeed, to saturate the taste and aroma of spices, vegetables should stand in a closed form for about 1.5-2 months.
Tomato pasta
If you do not want to bother with fresh tomatoes, then you can make lecho preparations using ordinary tomato paste. For this we need:
- tomato paste - 800 ml;
- fresh sweet pepper - 2 kg;
- fine sugar sand - 5 large spoons;
- table salt - a large spoon without a slide.
Cooking process
Bulgarian lecho must necessarily include sweet pepper. It must be washed well, and then cut the stalk, remove seeds and partitions. Further, vegetables are recommended to be cut into large squares or slices.
After the main product is processed, you should take tomato paste, dilute it with an equal amount of drinking water, and then add table salt and granulated sugar. The resulting mass must be brought to a boil in a large saucepan. Next, chopped bell pepper is required in the dishes. All ingredients must be boiled for 20 minutes, and then poured into sterilized glass jars and sealed tightly. After that, the filled containers must be turned upside down and wrapped in a blanket for a day. You can store such a blank until late spring. It is recommended to use it 1.5 months after preparation.
Eggplant Lecho
Another favorite recipe for such a blank is aubergine lecho. It turns out more dense. To prepare it, we need:
- fresh Bulgarian pepper - 1 kg;
- eggplant as young as possible - 4 kg;
- fresh carrots - 1 kg;
- cloves of garlic - 10 pcs.;
- soft tomatoes - 2 kg;
- onions - about 10 heads;
- table vinegar - 250 ml;
- refined vegetable oil - 500 ml;
- granulated sugar - 250 g;
- table salt - 4 large spoons.
Component Processing
To prepare this lecho, it is necessary to process all acquired vegetables:
- Fresh bell peppers and onions - cut into half rings.
- Wash eggplants, peel and cut vegetables into cubes.
- Grate carrots on a large grater, and peeled cloves of garlic on a small grater.
- Wash and chop the tomatoes into gruel using a blender or meat grinder.
Cooking lecho on the stove
For self-cooking lecho for the winter, you should take a large enameled basin, put tomato puree, table vinegar, refined vegetable oil, sugar and salt in it. Bringing the ingredients to a boil, they need to add bell pepper, onions, as well as eggplant and carrots. After mixing the products, they should be stewed at an average temperature of about 30-35 minutes. At the very end, grated garlic cloves must be put into the vegetable mass.
Testament stage
The finished lecho should be distributed in sterilized jars and immediately rolled up. Next, the containers must be turned upside down and left under the covers for a day. After this, the workpiece must be removed to the cellar. It can be used only after 1-1.5 months.
Cucumber lecho
Cucumber lecho is a fairly popular appetizer, which can be safely served at the dining table. It should be noted that the distinguishing feature of such a lecho preparation is that during its use you feel juicy and aromatic cucumbers crunching deliciously in your mouth.
So, to prepare a winter vegetable snack, we need:
- small fresh cucumbers - about 5 kg;
- fresh bell pepper - 1 kg;
- soft tomatoes - about 2.5 kg;
- fresh garlic - 1 small head;
- odorless vegetable oil - about 200 ml;
- table vinegar 6% - approximately 200 ml;
- granulated sugar - about 200 g;
- table salt - 3 large spoons.
Cooking a flavorful snack
Before you cook this lecho on the stove, you should twist fresh tomatoes and bell pepper in a meat grinder. Next, to the resulting mass, it is necessary to add table vinegar, vegetable oil, table salt and granulated sugar. All ingredients must be mixed, put on the stove, bring to a boil and cook for exactly 15 minutes. After the specified time, fresh cucumbers, previously sliced in rings, are required to be added to the tomato gruel. After boiling the vegetables for another 10 minutes, add the grated head of garlic to them.
Serve lecho to the table
After the lecho is ready, it must be distributed over sterilized containers, and then tightly rolled up. After keeping the workpiece in the cellar for about a month and a half, it can be safely served to the table. To do this, put the snack in a small bowl. You can use it with bread and add to various dishes as a fragrant sauce. For example, spaghetti turns out to be very tasty if you mix the finished hot product with lecho, and then immediately serve it with a sausage or sausage.