Recipes lecho with vegetables for the winter

All lovers of canned vegetables from childhood know the taste of lecho.This incredibly juicy and fragrant salad is an excellent side dish for meat, cereal, pasta.

Lecho is also a sauce, which consists of two essential ingredients - sweet pepper and tomatoes. Some recipes that add to the classics add onions to the dish.

All other descriptions of the additional components are selected to taste, culinary preferences of a particular locality, by the availability of available products.

It is profitable to make blanks from sweet pepper and tomatoes at the beginning of autumn, when there are a lot of vegetables on the market, their price is low or their own garden pleases with a rich harvest.

The historical homeland of Lecho is Hungary, as the very name narrates to the language connoisseurs. In Russian-speaking countries, there is a slight confusion about the origin of this dish. Sweet pepper is called Bulgarian, hence the name "Bulgarian Lecho". However, it is not.

In Bulgarian cuisine, as in other European, there are similar dishes, but with different names. The main unifying feature of all these dishes is the composition of the main products - peppers, tomatoes and onions. So, in the French ratatouille zucchini or zucchini are necessarily present, and in Italian, garlic, oil and greens are added to the main vegetables. Tracing the history of this combination of products is easy. Sweet peppers, tomatoes, onions, zucchini - autumn vegetables, with good growth in the European climate. This combination of products was available to the common people and was not a refinement. Rather, it is a convenient standard dish for all segments of the population.

Sweet pepper has been known in Eastern Europe since the 16th century, since some countries fell under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Tomatoes in Europe were safely consumed only at the beginning of the XIX century. From this follows a simple conclusion that the options for leco appeared on European tables relatively recently. In the Hungarian cookbooks, the name "lecho" was first used only in the thirties of the twentieth century, and already in the fifties it was firmly included in language dictionaries.

In the standard Hungarian lecho recipe, white (yellow) peppers and red tomatoes are taken as the basis. In the earliest culinary sources mentioned immature pepper, as the main element of the dish. It is believed that it is just in time for ripening that it has a special taste and aroma.

Red, orange or bright green vegetables are added in small amounts to the main ingredient as desired. Not excluded and spicy paprika.

Tomatoes for the lecho are selected succulent fleshy, as they will be processed, they will play the main role of the sauce. The overall taste of the product depends on the acidity and sugar content of the tomatoes, so it is better to choose sweet, slightly overripe fruits.

Before cooking, vegetables should be prepared. At peppers the stalk is cut off, seeds are removed. The shape of the pieces may be different. In the classic recipe, it is recommended to cut the pepper into large chunks, but the option of wide longitudinal strips — from the top to the base of the fruit, as well as the shape of a wide straw — is not excluded.

Tomatoes are peeled, but this is an optional procedure. If the blender (or any other device for grinding) is quite powerful so that the peel pieces do not remain in the paste, then you can process the whole tomatoes. In other cases, a cross-cut is made at the base of the tomato and is lowered into boiling water for a few seconds. After scalding, the rind of the tomato is easily separated from the fetus.

All other ingredients, if they are present in recipes, are cut in the standard for blanks ways:

• onion - half rings;
• carrots - straws of medium width;
• cucumbers - circles;
• zucchini, eggplant - cubes of small size;
• garlic is finely chopped or rubbed to a slurry;
• greens are shredded to a state of seasoning.

The technology of cooking lecho is attractive because the cans with finished products do without sterilization and are beautifully stored for a long time. The dish is laid not in the raw, but in the heat-treated form.

Do not forget that the dishes for blanks should be thoroughly washed and sterilized in any convenient way. Banks and lids can be kept in boiling water, in the oven or in the microwave.

The volume of dishes, as well as the method of tightening the lids, do not matter. The main condition - the bank must be hermetically sealed. This can be checked immediately after closing by turning the container upside down. If there are no rising bubbles in the bank, the process is executed correctly. The product is ready for storage.

Among the many recipes, each hostess seeks to choose what best suits the composition of the available products, or is looking for the most unusual recipe, trying something new.

The proposed option lecho for the winter is easy to prepare. Due to the addition of inexpensive ingredients, the total weight of the product is more, and the very tasty dish will satisfy the most sophisticated taste.

Ingredients:

• sweet pepper - 1.5 kg, tomatoes - 3 kg;
• carrots - 1 kg, onions - 1 kg;
• vegetable oil - 300 ml, salt - 2 tbsp. spoons with a slide;
• sugar - 1 cup (200-250 ml), vinegar 9% - 150 ml.

For such a volume of products, a large pan or a large enamel basin, a wooden stirrer, and sterilized jars are required. The total yield of lecho is about 6 liters, banks can be of any size.

The preparation of this dish consists of two simple steps.

First stage

• Vegetables are cut into the container in turn: onion half rings, carrots and pepper with large straws. Salt and sugar are poured.
• Before the infusion of liquids, vegetables are well mixed. It is more convenient to do this with two hands so that the pieces mix well and the salt and sugar are evenly distributed.
• Tomatoes are ground into a homogeneous mass and poured into the rest of the vegetables. Following the addition of liquid ingredients - oil and vinegar.
• The pot is covered with a lid or a wide towel and left for an hour so that the vegetables are well saturated with juice.

Second phase

• After an hour, put the pot on the fire and bring to a boil. After boiling the fire should be reduced and cook lecho for 20 or 25 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
• The finished composition is laid out on the banks, close the lids and turn upside down. Wrap a towel and warm covering material to cool completely.

Every housewife knows that canned products are best stored in a dark cool place. Vegetable lecho for the winter is no exception. The best storage option would be a cellar or basement, where the temperature does not exceed 15 degrees and does not fall below zero.

In the absence of such premises, preservation is stored in an apartment, in a closed closet or closet. It is necessary that banks be isolated from daylight.

When opening them it is important to pay attention to the inner surface of the lid - it should not be rust. One-time tin lids are thrown away after opening, replacing them with nylon or twisted ones. An open jar is stored in the refrigerator, and the product is taken out of it only with a clean spoon.

You will learn more about how to cook lecho in the next video.