For making Lecho, you have to love peppers and tomatoes and you have to be patient as this dish is only good in late August and into very early September. This is when the beef steak tomatoes and the Hungarian White Peppers are available. The window is very short and this narrow time frame makes white pepper lecho truly a seasonal dish.
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Ingredients
- 1 tbspn corn oil
- 6-8 peppers Hungarian peppers are best can also use cubanelle peppers
- 1 hot banana pepper
- 3 medium fresh tomatoes
- 1 medium sweet onion finely chopped
- 1/2 lb pepperoni sliced 1/8" thick, do not use pre- packaged, pre-sliced
- 1/3 cup white rice uncooked
- 2 tspn Hungarian sweet paprika
- 2 tspn kosher salt or to taste
Servings: people
Units:
Instructions
- Gather all ingredients before starting recipe.
- Slice pepperoni and peel and chop onion
- Heat oil over medium high heat in a sauté pan and add pepperoni and chopped onion.
- Cut each tomato into 8 wedges and slice peppers; hold the stem end of the pepper in you left hand, and using a paring knife, slice sections from the tip of the pepper, leaving ribs behind.
- Add tomato wedges to onion and pepperoni, toss to combine, sauté until the tomatoes have started to let out some of their juices, about 5-6 minutes. If the mixture looks dry, add a little water, 1/4 cup at a time.
- Add one whole hot banana pepper, the sliced peppers, paprika and salt and toss to combine, reduce heat to medium low and cover the pan with a lid and cook covered for about 10-15 minutes. The mixture should be cooking at a gentle simmer, check periodically to make sure that the mixture is cooking evenly, no need to stir.
- The mixture is ready for the addition of the rice when the pan juices are clearly visible when the peppers are pushed aside. The amount of juice depends on the juices let out by the tomatoes and peppers, so the amount of rice should be adjusted according to the amount of juice.
- Sprinkle 1/3 cup rice (or more if there is lots of juice) over the top of the peppers, and combine, making sure that the rice is folded into the juices. Cover with a lid and cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until the rice is cooked.
Serving
- Ladle into rimmed soup bowls and serve with fresh bread.
I love lecho and every household has their own way of making it. It certainly was a summer staple dish in eastern Europe. Very much like tomato sauce and pasta is for Italians. The main difference between your recipe and the lecho I grew up on was that we omitted the rice and at the end of the cooking process, added a few beaten eggs which bound the sauce together. A piece of crusty bread and you had a great meal.