Lecho with tomato paste for the winter

Lecho is perhaps the most popular vegetable salad that housewives roll for the winter. It is simple to prepare, does not require adherence to strict proportions, it requires the most simple vegetables, the price of which is significantly reduced in the summer-autumn period.

There are a lot of recipes, and they differ in both a set of vegetables and a way of cooking. Classic lecho is made from Bulgarian pepper, which is cooked in tomato sauce. But there is lecho from zucchini, eggplant and even cucumbers.

Particular attention is paid to tomato sauce, which gives the taste to the whole dish. It is usually made from tomatoes, which are first twisted in a meat grinder, rubbed through a sieve or crushed in a blender, and then boiled down to the desired consistency. In any case, it takes a lot of time, which does not always suit the modern owner.

Therefore, new recipes have appeared, using which the cooking time of lecho is minimized. In their list of ingredients, tomato paste, tomato juice or ketchup are listed instead of tomatoes.

Despite such liberties on the part of the housewives, the taste of modern lecho is still great.

Subtleties

The taste of any lecho depends on the tomatoes from which the tomato filling is made. If lecho is cooked with tomato paste, then it should be of excellent quality. Before you let her in, you need to read the information about the composition. Among the ingredients included in it should not be any preservatives, thickeners, dyes, all sorts of E and other unnecessary "chemistry". This tomato paste is made from tomatoes with the addition of water, salt and sugar.
In addition to the composition, it is worth paying attention to the taste of the tomato, as in the finished lecho the flavor of the tomato paste will be felt quite strongly. If, for some reason, tomato paste is not liked, you do not need to use it, otherwise the result will be completely different from what you expected.
Before use, tomato paste is diluted with water to the desired consistency, most often this ratio is 1: 2 or 1: 3.
Sometimes tomato paste is salted. In this case, the amount of salt indicated in the recipe for lecho is reduced by necessarily tasting the sauce.
Before laying the vegetables, tomato paste is boiled for a few minutes, adding to taste salt, sugar, aromatic herbs.
If, according to the recipe, vegetables are fried first and then they are poured with tomato sauce, then you can use ready-made tomato juice.
Some housewives put ketchup instead of tomato. But since it needs a lot, and good ketchup does not happen cheap, it turns out too expensive.
A lecho with tomato paste is made without sterilization, but the jars and lids are sterilized.

Lecho with Bulgarian pepper and tomato paste

Ingredients:

Bulgarian pepper - 1 kg;
tomato paste - 250 g;
sugar - 75 g;
salt - 15 g;
water - 250 ml;
vegetable oil - 100 ml;
9% vinegar - 50 ml.

Method of preparation

Wash and sterilize the jars with lids beforehand. Turn them over on a towel to glass the water. You can sterilize the jars in the oven. To do this, put them in a cold oven, set the temperature to 150-160 ° and warm up for 20 minutes.
For lecho take a ripe meaty pepper. Wash it, cut the stalk. Cut in half, remove the seeds and partitions. Cut into wide strips, squares, or long slices.
Dilute tomato paste with water in a 1: 1 ratio, pour it into a wide saucepan. Put salt, sugar, butter. Stir. Bring to a boil.
Dip the pepper into the tomato sauce. Boil for 20-25 minutes from the moment of boiling.
Pour vinegar, boil for another 5 minutes.
In hot form, lay down lecho in jars. Immediately seal with sterile caps. Turn the cans upside down, wrap a blanket. In this position, leave to cool.

Lecho with Peppers, Carrots, Onions and Tomato Paste

Ingredients:

Bulgarian pepper - 1 kg;
carrots - 0, 4 kg;
bulb onion - 0, 3 kg;
garlic - 5 cloves;
tomato paste - 0, 5 kg;
water - 0, 7 l;
salt - 50 g;
sugar - 100 g;
vegetable oil - 120 ml;
9% vinegar - 50 ml.

Method of preparation

Prepare sterile jars with lids.
Pepper wash, cut in half, remove the seeds and stem. Cut into large strips.
Carrot clean, wash. Rub on a large grater.
Peel the onion from the husk, rinse, cut into half rings. Garlic peel, wash, chop.
Pour oil into a cauldron or thick-walled pot, heat it. Dip the onions, mix. Warm up without frying for 5 minutes.
Put the carrots, mix. Stew with onions for 10 minutes.
Add pepper and garlic.
In a separate bowl, mix the tomato paste with hot water, sugar and salt. Pour the vegetables with this sauce. Simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. Pour vinegar 5 minutes before readiness.
In hot form, lay down lecho in jars. Seal hermetically. Turn them over, wrap them with a blanket, cool them.

Lecho with pepper, tomato paste and bay leaf

Ingredients:

Bulgarian pepper - 1 kg;
tomato paste - 100 g;
water - 500 ml;
vegetable oil - 50 ml;
sugar - 100 g;
salt - 0, 5 st. l .;
vinegar 9 percent - 25 ml;
peppercorns - 10 pcs .;
bay leaf - 2 pcs.

Method of preparation

Pre-sterilize the washed jars and lids.
Pepper wash, cut in half, remove the stem and seeds. Cut into arbitrary equal slices.
Put the tomato paste in the pan, pour the water. Stir. Add sugar, salt, peppercorns, butter, bay leaf. Put on the fire and bring to a boil.
Put the pepper in the saucepan. Mix gently. Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. At the end of cooking, pour in the vinegar.
Hot lecho lay in jars. Immediately roll up. Turn the jars upside down, wrap a blanket, cool.

Pepper Lecho with Tomato Paste

Ingredients:

pepper - 1 kg;
tomato paste - 350 g;
water - 0, 8 l;
sugar - 2, 5 st. l .;
salt - 0, 5 st. l
vinegar (9 percent) - 2 tbsp. l

Method of preparation

Prepare in advance sterile jars with lids.
Wash the pepper, cut it in half, remove the seeds, cut the stalks. Cut the fruit into long strips.
Mix the tomato paste with water, pour into a wide saucepan. Add vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir. Bring to a boil.
Dip the pepper into the sauce. Simmer for half an hour on low heat.
In a fluidized form, place in liter or half-liter jars. Seal the sterile caps. Turn upside down, wrap a blanket. In this form, leave to cool.

Pepper and Eggplant Lecho with Tomato Paste

Ingredients:

pepper - 1 kg;
eggplants - 1 kg;
onions - 500 g;
tomato paste - 500 g;
water - 500 ml;
salt - 1 tbsp. l .;
sugar - 3 tbsp. l .;
9% vinegar - 40 ml.

Method of preparation

Prepare in advance sterile jars with lids.
Cut off the stalks of the eggplants. Wash fruits, cut into cubes or cubes. If they are darkened on the cut, add salt, soak for 30 minutes. Drain out the dark juice, and slightly squeeze the eggplants.
Pepper wash, cut in half, remove the stem and seeds. Cut into large strips or wide slices.
Peel the onions, rinse with water. Cut into half rings.
Dissolve tomato paste with water, place in a wide saucepan, put on fire. Add sugar and salt. Stir. As soon as the liquid boils, put onions. Cook on moderate heat for 5 minutes.
Put the eggplant. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add pepper. Cook it all together for another 30 minutes.
Pour in vinegar, stir. Keep on fire for another 5 minutes.
In a boiling form, arrange in jars. Seal hermetically with sterile caps. Turn upside down, wrap a blanket. Wait for complete cooling.

Note: on the same principle, cook lecho with zucchini and tomato paste. Squashes need to take young - with delicate skin and without seeds. Cut the stalks from them, then cut them in half and cut them into slices. You can also cut them into cubes. To lecho looked more appetizing, it is better to use red or yellow pepper. Otherwise, do the same as in the recipe with eggplant.