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During the winter harvesting period, each housewife has a marked item - "prepare lecho". There is no more popular canning dish. For its preparation, vegetables that are available are used. There are already quite a lot of methods for preparing lecho. In addition, the set of components may differ significantly. If the classic recipe for the dish is made from pepper, then the modern variations of lecho apply to zucchini, eggplants, and cucumbers. Each housewife has her own "signature" recipe for lecho. Some take a very long time to prepare, so they do not always become popular. Currently, billets with minimal time expenditures are appreciated.
To prepare traditional lecho for the winter, tomato sauce is used. And to prepare a quality sauce, you need to spend a significant part of the day. After all, you need tomatoes for the sauce:
- wash;
- cut;
- twist into a meat grinder, grind through a sieve or grind in a blender;
- boil the tomato juice to the desired consistency.
It is the last point that does not suit modern housewives with its duration. They are constantly looking for new options so that making delicious lecho is less burdensome. The most suitable, in which the wonderful taste of the dish is preserved, is considered a recipe for lecho with tomato paste, tomato juice or ketchup.
Nuances of a modern recipe
To cook bell pepper lecho with tomato paste is not difficult, but the process requires knowledge of some features. The focus should be on the quality of the tomato paste. The taste of the finished vegetable salad depends on this. What should you pay attention to?
On the quality of the pasta. First of all, familiarize yourself with its composition. It is optimal that the ingredient does not contain chemicals - preservatives, dyes, additives for thickening.
It is best if the tomato paste is made from tomatoes alone, without sugar and salt. But if one was not found, then adjust the amount of these components to taste, without looking back at the recipe.
Be sure to taste the taste of the finished tomato paste before you put the lecho in it. It influences the quality of vegetable lecho with tomato paste more than other components. Therefore, if you do not like the quality of the product, do not use it in the preparation.
Before adding to the lecho, the paste is diluted with water to a semi-liquid state. The usual ratio of components is 1: 2 or with a good consistency of ketchup 1: 3.
Then the ingredient is boiled for 5-7 minutes, adding spices and seasonings if desired.
When the recipe for lecho with tomato paste requires pre-frying the vegetables and then pouring the sauce, it is convenient to take homemade tomato juice.
Ketchup, as a substitute for pasta, comes out a little more expensive, but gives a peculiar taste to a familiar salad.
An advantageous characteristic of ready-made tomato paste for lecho - a recipe with its use does not require sterilization of the finished product. Only lids and glassware are subject to mandatory sterilization.
Set of products and cooking process
Many people want to cook the famous Bulgarian lecho.
To get the taste of your favorite dish, you need to prepare per kilogram of sweet bell pepper:
- 250 grams of quality store-bought tomato paste;
- 250 ml of purified water;
- 15 g salt;
- 75 g sugar;
- 100 ml of vegetable oil;
- 50 ml of table vinegar (9%).
Prepare jars and lids before cooking - wash and sterilize thoroughly.This can be done in the usual way over boiling water and dried. There is an alternative - fry in the oven for 20 minutes.
Let's start preparing the dish. For lecho with tomato paste, use ripe fleshy peppers. Color and size do not really matter. Wash the pepper well, remove the stalks, partitions and seeds. To prevent seeds from remaining, tap the peppercorns with the flat side of the knife. Now cut into pieces of the shape that you like best - strips, slices, squares.
Prepare the sauce. To do this, dilute the tomato paste in a large container with water. Thick - dilute in a 1: 1 ratio, if the paste is more liquid, then it is enough to take 1: 2 water.
Add vegetable oil, sugar and salt. Be sure to taste the sauce so as not to oversalt the lecho with tomato paste. Stir the mixture well and boil.
Dip pepper slices in boiling sauce, boil the mixture and simmer for 25 minutes.
It remains to add vinegar and boil the mass again for 5 minutes.
And now put an even hot aromatic dish of pepper with tomato paste in a sterile glass container, roll up the lids. Banks, according to the recommendations of the cooks, turn over and insulate. After cooling, transfer to winter storage.
Recipes with the addition of other vegetables
Lecho with tomato paste for the winter is often cooked with onion and carrots.
This salad has a richer flavor. Due to the increased amount of ingredients, you will need more tomato paste, sugar and salt.
For one kilogram of fleshy peppers, you need to take:
- 400 grams of vegetables - onions and carrots;
- 5-6 cloves of garlic (add to your liking);
- 500 g ready-made tomato paste;
- 50 g of salt and 100 g of sugar;
- 100 ml of vegetable oil;
- 50 ml vinegar.
Lecho with carrots, onion and tomato paste takes a little longer to cook, but the cooking process is similar to the classic version.
First, we sterilize the jars and lids in a convenient way
Let's move on to vegetables. Wash, clean, begin to grind.
Cut the pepper into large strips, grate the carrots, cut the onion in half rings, use a crusher or fine grater for the garlic.
We send the onion first for heat treatment. Pour oil into a cauldron, heat it up and dip the onion into it. Let's warm up for 5 minutes.
Now add the carrots to the cauldron and simmer together with the onions for 10 minutes. At the end of stewing vegetables, add garlic and bell pepper.
Prepare the pasta at the same time. Mix it with water, salt, sugar and pour it into a cauldron with vegetables.
The stewing time of the dish is 40 minutes. When 5 minutes remain before the end of the process, pour in the vinegar.
After the time has elapsed, we will decompose the hot tasty mixture into jars, seal and insulate. When it cools down, remove the blanket and put it in storage.
Variants with unusual components for lecho
Lecho with tomato paste is gaining great popularity, the recipe for which contains rice groats. Such a preparation turns out to be more satisfying and nutritious. Serves as an independent second course. It is very convenient when guests unexpectedly come or you need lunch on the road.
For 1 kg of Bulgarian pepper, it will be enough:
- 250 g of rice groats;
- 1 kg of onions and carrots;
- 1 cup of sugar;
- 1 liter of purchased tomato paste (you can use homemade sauce);
- 0.5 l of vegetable oil;
- 3 tablespoons of table salt;
- 100 ml vinegar.
All vegetables must be washed well, then chopped. Cut the pepper in this recipe coarsely, carrots on a coarse grater, chop the onion in half rings.
We put all the ingredients in a saucepan at once, cook for 50 minutes after boiling. Stir the hot mass from time to time, not forgetting the precautions. After stewing, add vinegar and boil for another 5 minutes.
We lay out on the jars while hot, roll up with high quality, cover with a warm blanket. As soon as the mixture has completely cooled, remove the blanket and put away lecho with rice to the basement.
Mistresses on a note
Even in a classic recipe, you can safely add your favorite spices or garlic. Put herbs and spices in tomato sauce, boil a little and then add vegetables. Allspice, cloves, bay leaves go well with Bulgarian lecho. If you want to add dill or parsley, then it is better to do this 10 minutes before the end of stewing.
For the preparation of lecho, choose only high-quality products. In this case, you can be sure that the winter blank will withstand the required shelf life.
Be sure to sterilize dishes and lids so that the effort is not wasted. Due to the non-sterility of the dishes, the lecho will quickly deteriorate and be unsuitable for food.
Control the cooking time according to your requests. If you need an elastic pepper in lecho, then try not to digest it.
