What sets this lecsó apart from my yellow pepper lecsó is that it’s not made with yellow peppers (it’s made with red and green ones). And I think it’s even simpler than that one. An absolute doddle.
As so often happens around here, I had to use up the contents of the fridge. Since I had no fewer than 4 big peppers, the choice was obvious. A bit of chopping and I had a late lunch that doubled as dinner, with some left for today, too. A quick, simple, primitive dish that celebrates the brotherly love between Poles and Hungarians. What more could you want?
Speaking of Polish-Hungarian friendship, I remember the time it got me thrown into a swimming pool fully clothed (and, more to the point, with my phone in my pocket). Luckily, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never eaten the local lecsó on any of my trips to Hungary. So I don’t directly associate that story with the dish. Why did I even bring it up? Hmm. Never mind, here’s a poem (I assure you it rhymes in Hungarian). Hungary’s national poet, Sándor Petőfi, wrote it before he was born.
Balaton menni gyalog
Miután a pörkölt, ha te közé tartozik
Amikor neked, hogy az úticél
Egyen kezelt, Barátom!
You don’t speak Hungarian, do you? And yet you want to eat lecsó. Well, well. OK, here’s the translation.
On foot you’ll cross Lake Balaton,
If you’re Hungarian and you’ve had your goulash.
But if you want to reach your journey’s end,
Eat your lecsó, my friend!
Sorry about today’s intro. Someone really got on my nerves first thing this morning and my muse did a runner. I do recommend the lecsó!
At a glance:
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: about 1.5 hours
Serves: 4
Calories: ? I’m speechless.
Ingredients for two-colour lecsó:
- 2 large red peppers
- 2 large green peppers
- 2 medium onions
- a length (about 20 cm) of smoked sausage (any kind, as long as it’s not too fatty)
- two tablespoons of olive oil
- a teaspoon of ground black pepper
- a tablespoon of salt
- half a teaspoon of ground hot paprika
- a teaspoon of sugar
- 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
The recipe (peel, chop and cook):
I peeled and chopped all the vegetables. I chopped the onions fairly finely and cut the peppers into strips and squares no bigger than 2 x 3 centimetres. I heated the olive oil in a medium-sized pot and fried the onions in it with a teaspoon of sugar. Once the onions were soft, I added the green peppers, gave it a stir and added the red peppers (actually, I’ll come clean: I only started cutting up the peppers while the onions were frying. I cut up the green ones first, and only got to the red ones once the green ones were frying). I gave it a stir.
Next, I cut the sausage into small dice and added it to the vegetables. I stirred, fried everything briefly and added 3 tablespoons of tomato paste. I stirred it thoroughly, added all the seasonings, stirred again and poured in about two cups of water. I gave it a stir.
When it came to the boil I turned down the “flame” (on my hob it goes from 1 to 10, and I went from 6 to 3) and let it simmer for about 1.5 hours, stirring now and then. All done. I serve it with buttered dark bread. Enjoy!
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