Almost every recipe for lecho with tomato paste and sweet pepper does not require much time for preparation. The options differ in the composition of the products and the method of processing the preservation: some involve sealing the jars without sterilization, while in others the container filled with salad must be sterilized and only then sealed. But all the proposed methods have one thing in common: the taste, aroma and beautiful color of the salad.
Classic recipe
Preparing bell peppers for the winter in the classic way will appeal to housewives who do not want to spend a lot of time processing tomatoes. Tomato paste is used instead of fresh tomatoes. The taste of pickled pepper is simply amazing. Some people call this method “lazy”: with proper skill, it takes about 30 minutes to prepare the preserved food, not counting the time spent preparing the vegetables. All the ingredients for canning can be bought at the market, and if you have vegetables from your own garden, that’s even better.
Set of products for 3 liters of salad:
- salad pepper red or yellow, with thick walls - 2 kg;
- tomato paste - 350 g;
- table vinegar 9% - 100 ml;
- vegetable oil (preferably unrefined) - 200 ml;
- filtered or settled water - 600 ml;
- granulated sugar - 150 g;
- fine salt - 1 tbsp. spoon.
You can use coarse salt, but you need to take a little more.
The pepper fruits are washed, cut lengthwise into 2 parts and the seed chamber is removed. They chop it into large strips, trying to make them long: in canned form, such cuts look very beautiful. Pour water into a bowl and add tomato paste. Pour in sugar and salt, dissolve, immediately after that add butter.
If someone doesn’t like the smell of unrefined oil, you can use deodorized oil, but then the taste and aroma will not be the same as in the original recipe for pepper lecho for the winter.
Mix everything, add pepper and cook for 18 - 20 minutes.
The mixture must be stirred all the time so that it does not burn. At the very end, pour vinegar, stir again, let it boil and turn it off. Lecho is packaged hot in containers.The jars must first be steamed over a kettle or in the oven, and the metal lids must be dipped in boiling water for a few seconds.
Final stage: preserve with a seaming wrench. An alternative option is screw caps (twist-off system). In both cases, the salad is perfectly stored.
With fresh tomatoes
To make pepper lecho with tomato paste, you need to take fresh tomatoes, peel them and grind them. The resulting mass is placed on the fire and boiled until tender. Some housewives remove the seeds, but this is not necessary. Having prepared the remaining ingredients and containers, you can begin to preserve lecho for the winter.
Product set:
- thick paste from fresh tomatoes - 1 liter jar;
- salad pepper (preferably meaty) - 2 kg;
- spring or well water - 2 l;
- garlic - 5 large cloves;
- granulated sugar - 195 g;
- salt - 90 g;
- vegetable oil - 310 g;
- white onion - 750 g;
- carrots -750 g;
- acetic acid - 2 tbsp. l.
When canned, red or yellow peppers with thick walls are especially tasty and beautiful, but if you don’t have that, any will do.
Treatment
Add water to the thick tomato paste to obtain a liquid consistency. Pour the mixture into a large saucepan, add salt, sugar and coarsely grated carrots. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer on low for 10 minutes. At this time, cut the onions and peppers into half rings, add them to the tomato mass, wait until it boils, and cook again over low heat.
After 20 minutes, add finely chopped garlic, pour in oil and vinegar, and boil for half an hour. Place in prepared jars, cover with lids and sterilize for 15 minutes, then seal.The finished pepper in tomato sauce is left in the kitchen until it cools, then taken away for storage in the cellar. Lecho is made similarly from bell peppers with tomato juice.
With young eggplants
The recipe will help if the “little blue ones” have turned out well, and you are tired of all the traditional snacks made from them. Eggplants need to be prepared in a special way: trim the stalks, cut into circles and place on a dish, sprinkling with a small amount of salt. Leave the eggplants in this form for 30 minutes, while the remaining ingredients are prepared.
After half an hour, the eggplant pieces become obsolete and the juice is poured out. You can’t keep it in salt for longer than 30 minutes, otherwise lecho with tomato paste for the winter will turn out too salty.
Product set:
- young eggplants - 1 kg;
- salad pepper - 1 kg;
- tomato paste - 500 g;
- onion - 500 g;
- granulated sugar - 3 tbsp. spoons;
- water - 500 ml;
- rock salt - 1 tbsp. spoon.
In this version of preparing for the winter, the pepper fruits are carefully cut into 2 parts lengthwise, the seed chamber is removed, and cut into cubes 3–4 cm long. The onion is peeled and chopped into half rings or strips. Tomato paste is mixed with water, the mass is poured into a large saucepan, salted, sugar is added, stirred until the grains dissolve and allowed to boil.
Place the prepared onion into the boiling liquid, cook for 4 minutes, then put the eggplant pieces in there and simmer for 11 - 12 minutes over low heat. Add the salad pepper and cook for another half hour while stirring. Then add vinegar, let it boil again, boil for 2 - 3 minutes and immediately pack it into jars. You can close it with regular metal or screw caps.
The sealed canned food is turned over to make sure that it is sealed and left on the table in this form.To extend cooling time, cover with a blanket or sweatshirt. When the preservation has cooled down, which will happen in about a day, it can be taken to the cellar. Preparing peppers in tomato paste for the winter with eggplants is not at all difficult, so the recipe is just a godsend for those who like original combinations of products. Cook with pleasure! Instead of eggplants, you can use young zucchini, preferably zucchini, but another variety will do.
Preparing an appetizer with zucchini is no different, but it is advisable to use red or yellow pepper to make the lecho bright. There is no need to peel the zucchini.
Recipe with onions and carrots
Assorted lecho is a tasty and healthy preparation, rich in various vitamins. It is not difficult to prepare, so even a novice housewife can handle it. According to this recipe, you should make lecho from bell peppers with tomato paste for the whole winter: by spring there is nothing left.
Product set:
- salad peppers with thick walls - 1 kg;
- carrots - 400 g;
- white onion - 0.3 kg;
- garlic - 1 large head;
- tomato paste - 500 g;
- coarse salt - 50 g;
- lean oil (refined) - 130 ml;
- 9% vinegar - 50 ml;
- granulated sugar - 10 g.
To make winter lecho with tomato juice, you need to take twice as much as paste.
Pickling process
The jars are steamed and placed on the table bottom up, the lids are dipped in boiling water for a few seconds, taken out and placed next to each other.
The pepper fruits are washed, cut lengthwise in half, and the seed nest is pulled out. Chop the pepper into large strips lengthwise or crosswise. The carrots are washed, scraped, washed again, then finely chopped or chopped on a grater with large holes to form sticks. The onion is cut into half rings or thin strips, as you like.
Garlic is crushed with a garlic press.If grated tomatoes are used instead of tomato paste, they are boiled until thick.
Oil is poured into a goose or duck pot, heated and onions are added. It needs to be kept on the fire for 4 - 5 minutes, without frying, so that it sautés but does not change color. Carrots, garlic and pepper are added to the onion. Mix everything and simmer for about 10 minutes. Tomato paste is diluted with water and this mixture is poured into vegetables. Salad with tomato juice for the winter is prepared in the same way, only water is not added.
Cook for another 40 minutes with constant stirring. Then add vinegar, boil the mixture for 3 minutes, turn off the stove and immediately pack the salad into jars. Seal with screw caps or regular ones, using a sealing key, and leave the jars at room temperature until they cool completely, turning them upside down and wrapping them in a blanket or warm clothing. Then they are transferred to the basement, where the workpiece is successfully stored all winter.
