Easy and quick recipes for vegetable lecho or a mixture of tomatoes, peppers and eggs in 5 tasty variants!

Hungarian cuisine is known and loved all over the world.

Ground paprika is a typical spice, whether in its sweet or hot form.

Goulash, perkelt, langoustine, from sausages, especially čabajka or uherák.

But there is one more dish that we often eat, especially in the summer months.

Yes, today we will look together at various variants of lečo recipes!

There are no limits to your imagination when preparing it!

Unusual vegetable lecho with eggs

This variant is special in that you do not have to classically mix the eggs into the other mixture after cracking them, but you can leave them in the form of a kind of bull’s eye. It is enough for the white to harden on the hot vegetables, the yolk should still be slightly liquid.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 peppers
• 1 zucchini
• 1 eggplant
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• spring onion
• salt pepper

Method:

1. Lightly fry finely chopped onion and garlic in a deep pan with oil.
2. Add the peeled and diced carrots and cook for approximately 5 minutes.
3. Then add chopped zucchini, eggplant, pepper and half a cup of water to the pan.
4. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. In the meantime, put the tomatoes in hot water for 10 seconds. Then peel them, cut them into quarters and remove the seeds.
6. Then cut them into smaller pieces and add to the mixture in the pan.
7. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Before serving, add sweet paprika, thyme and beat the egg.
9. Garnish with sliced spring onion.

Serve this dish with fresh or toasted bread.

Homemade lecho full of vitamins

A typical light and healthy summer dinner. Fresh tomatoes and peppers give this dish the real summer flavor.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 peppers
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 tablespoons of tomato puree
• 3 tablespoons of oil
• 2 teaspoons of sweet paprika
• salt pepper

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and then glaze the finely chopped onion.
2. Then add the crushed garlic cloves and saute for about another minute.
3. Add the pepper cut into strips, salt, pepper and close the pot.
4. After a few minutes, add the diced tomatoes and sweet pepper to the pot.
5. Mix and add the tomato puree.
6. Mix everything thoroughly and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
7. If the mixture becomes too thick, add a little water.
8. Finally, beat the egg into the vegetable mixture and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Serve homemade lecho with slices of fresh bread sprinkled with parsley.

Real Hungarian Lečo

Did you know that the original version of this recipe does not contain eggs or sausages? It is only a mixture of vegetables, mainly onions, peppers and tomatoes.

Ingredients:

• 4 large tomatoes
• 3 white or green peppers
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp lard
• 2 teaspoons of sweet paprika
• salt pepper

Method:

1. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic.
2. Then cut the washed tomatoes into small pieces and the washed peppers without seeds into strips. The tomato pieces should be approximately 1.5 centimeters in size, the pepper strips should be approximately 3 centimeters in length.
3. Melt the lard in a pan or pot, add the onion and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add the garlic, stir and cook for 1 more minute.
5. Then add the peppers, salt and pepper to the pan.
6. Mix thoroughly and add the remaining ingredients, i.e. tomatoes and sweet pepper.
7. Mix thoroughly again, cover with a lid and simmer for approximately 10 minutes.
8. Then remove the lid and cook for a few more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve Hungarian lecho with fresh bread or rice.

Baked lecho with sausage

The advantage of this variant is the fact that it can be consumed not only warm, but also cold.

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 peppers
• 1 zucchini
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 cup grated cheese (optional)
• salt pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Lightly fry the sausage cut into pieces in a pan with oil.
3. Then remove the sausage and fry the finely chopped onion in the remaining oil and fat.
4. When the onion becomes translucent, add the chopped pepper to the pan and after a while also the tomatoes.
5. In the meantime, mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper in another bowl.
6. Subsequently, transfer the mixture from the pan to a baking dish, mix in the sausage and cover everything with a mixture of eggs and milk.
7. Finally, sprinkle with cheese and place in the preheated oven for approximately 40 minutes.

Zucchini lecho with sausage

Zucchini is an increasingly popular vegetable here. Add it to your favorite dish. Its taste will become even more delicious thanks to it.

Ingredients:

• 4 tomatoes
• 2 peppers
• 1 zucchini
• 1 onion
• 2 sausage legs
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt pepper

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pot or deep frying pan and fry the chopped onion in it for 2 minutes.
2. Add pressed or finely chopped garlic and thyme and cook for another 2 minutes.
3. Then add the chopped sausage and tomato puree to the pot.
4. Boil the mixture for approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Chop the peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini and add them to the pot along with the sweet pepper, salt, and pepper.
6. Close the pot with a lid and cook for approximately 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve lecho with zucchini and sausage with rice, quinoa, potatoes or pastries.

True lecho or the magic of simplicity

The basic recipe for this Hungarian delicacy contains only three main ingredients, peppers, tomatoes and onions. White and green peppers are most often used for preparation, but you can also choose other types if you want. If you choose capsicum, the dish will be sweeter. The correct order of the ingredients is also important, i.e. first the onion, after its vitrification the paprika and finally the tomatoes.

Tomatoes are not peeled in authentic Hungarian Lech, but if the skins in the dish bother you afterwards, the tomatoes can of course be peeled without any problems. The basis of spices is paprika, mainly sweet, then only salt and pepper.

What to make it special?

The basic version of the recipe can be made special by adding additional ingredients. If you decide on a vegetarian version, add other vegetables, for example in the form of zucchini, eggplant, carrots or cauliflower. Mushrooms are another option. Thanks to the variety of vegetables, lecho is rich in various vitamins and minerals, eggs provide it with healthy proteins.

If you want to make the leche a heartier dish, enrich it with pieces of cold meat, be it classic sausage, sausage or bacon. There are also variants in which eggs are replaced with cream, or versions that are made special by using processed cheese.

Variants of lecho in international cuisine

Even though lecho is a classic of Hungarian cuisine, this does not mean that we cannot find similar dishes elsewhere in the world. On the contrary. In French cuisine, leche is a close relative of ratatouille. It resembles peperonata or caponata in Italian cuisine, piperada in Spanish cuisine and so-called menemen in Turkish cuisine.