Lecho with Tomatoes and Sweet Pepper
Lecho is sweet red pepper in a thick sauce cooked down from your own tomatoes, with no store-bought thickeners at all. The flavor comes from the reduced tomato itself, so it stays clean and bright. The key to the right texture is simple: reduce the tomatoes well first (the initial 20 minutes), and only then add the pepper, so it stays firm instead of collapsing into mush.
The dish came from Hungarian cuisine, where “lecsó” is the base of dozens of hot dishes, but in Ukrainian cellars it settled in specifically as a winter preserve.
Before you start
Use meaty, ripe tomatoes (plum types, for instance); watery ones make a thin lecho you’ll have to reduce forever. Cut the pepper on the larger side so it holds its shape in the jar. Add the vinegar essence (a 70% concentrate, far stronger than table vinegar; use it sparingly) only at the end, where it both preserves and offsets the sweetness. Want heat? Add a chili pod along with the sweet pepper.
Turn the sealed jars upside down and wrap them until cool, which doubles as a check that the seal holds. Keep in a cool dark place, roughly 50 to 59°F (10 to 15°C); refrigerate any opened jar. Serve as a cold starter or as a base for hot dishes and sauces.
Part of Ukrainian cuisine — 286 more recipes in the section.
You might also like
Ingredients
Instructions
Wash the tomatoes and run them through a meat grinder. Transfer the mass to a large pot, set over heat, bring to a boil, and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove the stems, seeds, and white ribs from the sweet pepper. Cut the pepper into small squares and add it to the hot tomato mass.
Add the oil, sugar, and salt.
Cook another 30 minutes. Two minutes before it's done, pour the vinegar essence into the lecho, stir, and turn off the heat.
Ladle the lecho into sterilized jars and seal with lids. Turn the jars over and let them cool.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.