The ripening season of vegetables requires the hostess to process them as soon as possible. Therefore, the harvest of tomato lecho for the winter, during the preparation of which all vitamins are stored, is the most useful and beloved dish.
Lecho came to us from Hungary and took pride of place among other recipes in Russian cuisine.
Tomato winter stew - general principles of preparation
The traditional recipe for lecho includes:
• tomatoes;
• pepper;
• salt;
• sugar;
• spices.
The recipes for making lecho from tomatoes are quite simple and any housewife can handle this task. The main thing is that you need to follow some recommendations of culinary experts with extensive experience.
1. The choice of the "right" vegetables. For lecho, you need to choose only strong, fully ripened, fleshy tomatoes, without visible damage and dents. Pepper should be large, juicy, dense. Flabby, shriveled, overripe and rumpled peppers should be immediately put aside.
2. Additional ingredients. The main components of the classic lecho are tomatoes and peppers, but despite this, the housewives add onion, honey, garlic, horseradish, and eggplant to the salad. Carrots, chili peppers, cloves, zucchini, cinnamon give a good taste.
3. Proper canning. From quality preparatory work depends on how long the workpieces will be stored. Sterilize jars and lids always. After rolling up the cans, you need to inspect them, to observe: is it leaking, is the lid tightly attached to the can.
Tomato Lech for the winter (home-style)
Amazingly tasty lecho made from peppers and tomatoes is well stored all winter both in the cellar and at room temperature. A good combination of ripe tomatoes, colorful peppers and garlic with a pleasant speck.
Ingredients
• Tomatoes - 4 kg
• Sugar - 200 g
• Large pepper, preferably multi-colored - 3.5 kg
• Salt - 3 tbsp. l
• Winter garlic (it is sharper) - 3 small heads
• Oil - a standard glass in 200 ml
• Peas of black pepper - 1 tbsp. l
• Table (9%) vinegar - 50 ml
Cooking method
First of all, you should start preparing bell pepper. It must be washed, cut in half, remove the seeds. First cut into strips and then into pieces.
Next, prepare the garlic. It must be grated on the side of the fibers. Grater should have medium divisions. This step is very important and the taste of the lecho depends on its observance.
The preparation of tomatoes. Washed and dried tomatoes must be passed through a meat grinder.
Now in a pan with high sides you need to put pepper, pour chopped tomatoes, add sugar and mix.
Then add coarse salt, peppercorns. After adding each ingredient, the mass must be mixed.
Add garlic and mix again. At the very end, it is necessary to pour in sunflower oil without flavors and additives.
Now put the container with the lecho on the fire and cook for 45 minutes after boiling, periodically stirring with a wooden spatula.
After the time is up, add vinegar and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
The finished lecho should be laid out in clean, sterile jars, rolled up. Banks must be turned upside down and a warm blanket is put on them. After cooling, the workpiece must be stored in the cellar.
Tomato Lech for the winter (without vinegar)
An unusual appetizer, the taste of which resembles the Hungarian lecho of the 70s. The basis of the preparation are two main ingredients: tomatoes and peppers and not a drop of vinegar. They can replace tomato paste during the preparation of first courses and cabbage rolls. Children love the taste of Lecho; it can be consumed as an independent dish.
Ingredients
• Juicy tomatoes, but not overripe - 3 kg
• Coarse salt - 1 tbsp. l with a pea
• A mixture of ground peppers - 1 tsp.
• Sweet pepper, preferably red - 10 pcs.
• Garlic - 7 pcs. small cloves
• Sugar - 1 tbsp. l
Cooking method
First you need to prepare vegetables: wash the tomatoes and red peppers under running water, remove the tops and seeds from the peppers. Peel and chop the garlic.
Put 1.5 kg of finely chopped tomatoes in one container, and 1.5 kg of chopped tomatoes in another container.
Put red pepper and smaller tomatoes into the pan. Extinguish for 10 minutes over low heat. Then add the tomatoes, those that were chopped into large slices, sugar, coarse salt and ground pepper, mix well and cook for another 0.5 hours.
Put the prepared lecho and tomatoes for the winter in banks, cork them, turn them upside down, and when cool, send them to the cellar for storage. Do not wrap.
The output will be 7 half-liter jars.
Tomato for winter (with apples)
Ready lecho can be added to soups, it is also used as a filling for pizza.
Ingredients
• Tomatoes - 4 kg
• Average apples (you can take summer varieties) - 5 pcs.
• Fruits of red and yellow pepper - 1 kg each
• Sugar - 5 tbsp. l
• Spices to taste
• Acetic acid (70%) - 1 tbsp.
• Salt - no more than 3 tbsp. l
Cooking method
Put chopped tomatoes in a large container and put on a gas stove to stew. When the mass has boiled, remove from the stove and allow to cool. Then wipe.
Add salt, sugar. In clean gauze, put spices: black and sweet peas of pepper, dill or caraway seeds, cloves, tie them well and dip them in a boiling mass with tomatoes. Cook from 15 minutes to half an hour.
To this also add peeled apples, strips of red pepper. A little later - strips of yellow pepper. Cook for 15 minutes.
Add chopped garlic cloves and cook another 10 minutes. At the end of cooking, add acetic acid, mix the workpiece, put it in jars and roll up.
Tomato lecho for the winter (with zucchini and pepper)
A universal recipe for tomato lecho for the winter. When preparing it, you can vary with the amount of vegetables. Instead of zucchini, you can add blanched asparagus beans, cucumbers, squash or eggplant. The main thing is to have enough tomato mass.
Ingredients
• Zucchini fruits - 1 kg
• Bulbs - 0.2 kg
• Oil - 150 ml
• Multi-colored pepper, so the lecho will look original - 1 kg
• Ripe tomatoes - 1 kg
• Carrots - 0.5 kg
• Garlic (cloves) - 2 pcs.
• Acetic essence - 18 ml
• Sugar - 1 tbsp. l
• Coarse salt - 30 g (as much as possible, depending on taste preferences)
Cooking method
Peel carrots and chop not very thin straws. Young zucchini should be removed with a delicate peel and cut into 1 cm slices. For hard vegetables, core should be removed.
In bell pepper, it is necessary to remove the seed portion and cut into strips. Onions - rings, which are then cut in half.
Wipe the washed tomatoes dry, put in a colander and scald with boiling water. After this, the skin is easier to remove. Having freed tomatoes from the skin, they need to be crushed in a blender or grated with large cells.
Pour 30 ml of sunflower oil into a deep pan, heat and put carrots with onions.
When the vegetables are slightly stewed and soft, you need to add zucchini, pepper and salt to taste. Simmer no more than 5 minutes.
Now you need to add the tomatoes, garlic, chopped in advance, sugar and cook on low heat for 15 minutes.
At the very end of the quenching, an essence should be poured into the lecho.
Attention!
It should be added dropwise, constantly mixing the salad.
Put the finished dough into cans, cover and put on sterilization. Half-liter cans are recommended to be sterilized for no more than 20 minutes, so the lecho will not turn into porridge. After 15 minutes from the start of sterilization, in each jar you need to evenly add the remaining sunflower oil, brought to a boil over low heat.
Get cans, roll up and wrap.
Tomato lecho for the winter (classic Bulgarian lecho)
Having opened a jar of Bulgarian lecho in winter, you can enjoy the aroma of a fabulous summer and forget about the weather for a moment.
Ingredients
• Carrots - 0.5 kg
• Juicy tomatoes - 1.5 kg
• Onion - 0.5 kg
• Vinegar 6% - 80 ml
• Sugar - 80 ml
• Olive oil - 2 tbsp. l
• Ordinary oil - 80 ml
• Salt - take depending on your taste
Cooking method
Wash the tomatoes, slightly cut, place in a deep container and pour boiling water. After 1 minute, the water needs to be drained, and the tomatoes again filled with water, but already cold. Then peel the tomatoes and grate with large cells or chop in a blender.
Pour the finished mass into a large saucepan, boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and cook for one hour, stirring regularly.
While the vegetables are stewed, you need to chop the onions, either rings or half rings, grate the carrots. It should make a thin straw.
Pour olive oil into a pan, heat over medium heat and fry the carrots with onions. Then you still need to stew the vegetables for 10 minutes.
Cut the prepared pepper into arbitrary pieces and hold in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Then you need to drain the water.
When the tomatoes are stewed, add salt, granulated sugar, vinegar, vegetable oil and mix. Now you should put in the pan carrots, fried along with onions, peppers. Cook for 15 minutes. Stir constantly.
At the very end of cooking, you need to try lecho to make sure that sugar and salt are added in sufficient quantities.
Put the finished lecho in prepared, sterilized and dry cans in advance, roll up and wrap. Banks should be removed and turned over only after they have cooled down.
Winter tomato salad (Hungarian)
Lecho (appetizer) in Hungarian is considered a traditional preparation for the winter for many housewives.
Ingredients
• Fruits of sweet green pepper - 1 kg 400 g
• Smoked bacon - 50 g
• Tomatoes - 600 g
• Fat - 80 g
• Paprika - 5 g
• Onions - 2 heads
• Salt
Cooking method
Prepared peppers need to be cut lengthwise into eight parts. To peel tomatoes, they should be dipped first in boiling water, and then in cold. After removing the peel, the tomatoes are cut into 4 parts. Onions are cut in half rings, bacon - in small squares.
The bacon should be fried in fat until it becomes transparent, then add the onion. When the color of the onion gets a golden hue, you need to add tomatoes, peppers, paprika and salt. Simmer over high heat until half the liquid evaporates.
After this, the fire must be reduced and extinguished until ready under the lid. Put the salad in jars and roll it up.
Tomato for winter (with eggplant)
A few vegetables can be prepared appetizing and juicy appetizer, which will be appropriate even on the festive table.
Ingredients
• Sweet multi-colored peppers - 2 pcs.
• Tomatoes - 1 kg
• Onion - 2 heads
• Garlic (cloves) - 2 pcs.
• Small, strong eggplant - 2 pcs.
• Oil - 0.5 cups
• Ground pepper and coarse salt - to taste
Cooking method
Cut all the vegetables in advance, as the cooking process is very fast. Pepper and eggplant cut into large cubes, onions - in small strips, tomatoes - in half. Squeeze the juice from one part, and grind the second.
Fry the aubergines in oil, add onions and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add pepper and simmer until softened.
Then you need to put the tomatoes, chopped garlic, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Then pour tomato juice and simmer until tender. Ready to roll up in the usual way.
Tomato for winter (with apple cider vinegar)
A simple but very tasty recipe.
Ingredients
• Onions and carrots - 0.5 kg each
• Colorful pepper - 1.5 kg
• Apple cider vinegar - 150 ml
• Tomatoes - 3 kg
• Oil - 200 ml
• Sugar - 0.2 kg
• Coarse salt - 2 tbsp. l
Cooking method
Grind tomatoes and add spices, oil. Cook for 15 minutes. Then add chopped carrots, after 15 minutes - pepper straws. Cook for 0.5 hours, add vinegar, boil, put in banks and roll.
Tomato Winter Treats - Tips and Tricks
• Some housewives prefer to place tomato paste in the lecho instead of tomatoes, although this is not recommended. In order not to spoil the appearance of the salad and preserve the taste of lecho, you need to buy a good tomato paste for harvesting. Saving once, you can cook a tasteless snack.
• Original flavoring notes depend on whether dried herbs are added to it or not. Of fragrant herbs, preference should be given to basil, parsley, cilantro, thyme and marjoram. In addition, dried herbs, in contrast to fresh herbs, provide the blanks with long-term storage.
• A lecho can be stored for 2 years, although it is unlikely that a tasty harvest will survive to such a venerable age. Typically, seaming goes with a bang in one season.
And how nice it is to get the whole family to gather at the table on a winter evening, open a jar of aromatic lecho and, enjoying its taste, recall the summer days.
