A simple recipe for lecho without oil and vinegar for the winter is popular among housewives. The cooking process takes little time. Vegetables undergo minimal heat treatment, so they retain all their beneficial properties. In winter, lecho, prepared without vinegar and vegetable oil, is served as a side dish, added to vegetable stew, and eaten with meat, vegetables, and pasta.
Features of preparing lecho without oil for the winter
In August, when peppers ripen, tomatoes ripen en masse. The fruits of large-fruited varieties do not last long.They need to be processed urgently. A recipe with peppers without vegetable oil solves this problem. Delicious meaty tomatoes replace vinegar.
The preparation turns out excellent, the taste of the vegetables is close to fresh. It takes a little time to process:
- preparing vegetables (washing, cutting) - 15-20 minutes;
- preparation of containers and lids - 20-25 minutes;
- heat treatment of vegetables - 35 minutes.
Heat treatment of vegetables and sterilization of jars can be combined, so it takes about an hour, no more.
Recipe Ingredients Required
The good thing about this recipe is that you can choose any spices and add them according to your taste.. Spicy lovers can add ground pepper, preferably black.
For those who are excited by aromas, add cloves, basil, and other favorite spices. It is better not to put garlic, the preparation without vinegar will be better stored, or add a little - 5-6 cloves. The main ingredients are shown in the table.
| Product | Weight (g) |
| Tomatoes | 3000 |
| Pepper | 1000 |
| Salt | 20 |
| Sugar | 60 |
Specifics of ingredient selection
For lecho, it is better to take varieties of pepper with red fruits, these are the ones the Hungarians use. This is their national dish. You can also take yellow ones, they will not spoil the taste. The main thing is that the fruits are ripe, juicy, fresh, and have thick walls.
Tomatoes need fleshy, red ones. To make the lecho tasty, all vegetables must be fresh. High-quality fruits are elastic to the touch, there are no stains or traces of rot on them. The skin of healthy peppers and tomatoes is smooth and shiny.
Rules for preparing containers
Lecho will be stored for a long time, so you need to take the preparation of the container seriously. The jars should be carefully inspected and rejected if there are chips on the neck or cracks on the walls. Wash inside and outside with soda, rinse several times with clean water, proceed to sterilization:
- Pour ¼ of the volume into each jar with cold water;
- place them on a wire rack in a cold oven;
- set the temperature to 150 °C;
- heat until water boils.
Do not remove sterilized containers from the oven until the lecho is ready. It is better to pour it into hot jars. The lids need to be washed with baking soda and boiled in water for a few minutes.
How to cook lecho without oil?
First, cut half of the tomatoes into slices - 1.5 kg. The size and shape of the pieces do not matter. Place them in a saucepan. Wash the pepper pods, remove seeds and membranes, cut into cubes of any size. Place the container on the burner, put the pepper cut into pieces into it.
When heated, the tomatoes will release juice; as soon as it boils, reduce the heat and continue cooking for about 15 minutes. At this time, cut the remaining tomatoes and pour them into the pan. Mix the vegetables and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Add salt, sugar and spices to the lecho. Stir the vegetable mass and boil for 5 minutes. The workpiece is ready.
Further storage of preservation
If there is no cellar, then jars of lecho can be stored at room temperature. They need to be placed in a closet or pantry. Sunlight and heat from batteries shorten the shelf life of the product. At temperatures close to 0 °C, lecho can be stored for 1-2 years. After opening, the jar of snack should be placed in the refrigerator and consumed within a few days.
