The winter diet is poor in vegetables. You can buy potatoes, carrots, onions, beets and cabbage. And the rest of the vegetables are not affordable for everyone. Therefore, housewives begin to stock up at the end of summer. They preserve tomatoes and cucumbers, sauerkraut, salt mushrooms. One of my favorite preparations for the winter is lecho.
The composition of the classic lecho includes bell peppers, tomatoes, garlic or onions. Its flavor is slightly sweet due to the pepper, the sourness comes from the tomatoes, and the garlic adds a slight tangy spicy note.
In addition to this lecho, there are many more of its varieties. There is a variation of this dish with carrots, apples, zucchini, eggplant. Many people like the eggplant appetizer the most.
Subtleties of cooking
- The principle of cooking eggplant lecho does not differ from the method of making it from peppers and tomatoes. But more spices are added to this appetizer in the form of garlic, onion, dill, black pepper, bay leaf.
- Almost all recipes contain vinegar. It acts as a preservative, and also adds lecho acid, since eggplant is a fresh vegetable and without acid, the snack does not have such an expressive taste.
- Vegetables for eggplant lecho should be taken ripe, without signs of spoilage and disease. Tomatoes should be fleshy, bell peppers should be sweet and juicy.
- Particular attention should be paid to the choice of eggplant. They should be young, not yet physiologically ripe: small, thin-skinned and almost seedless.
- The fact is that eggplants contain solanine M (melongen), which in large quantities is a strong poison. In eggplant, the proportion of this substance increases with the ripening of the fruit. You can find out about the presence of solanine by a specific bitter taste, as well as by a change in the color of the pulp on the cut. If the eggplant pulp remains light on the cut after a few minutes, then there is no solanine in such a vegetable and the fruit can be safely used for cooking lecho and other dishes.
- Eggplants that have darkened when cut should be sprinkled with salt and left for a while under oppression. After a few minutes, the eggplant will give juice, and along with the salty liquid, the bitterness will also go away. But in this case, less salt is put in the lecho.
- Jars and lids for lecho must be sterilized. If all the vegetables and spices are well cooked, then they are laid out in jars and immediately corked, and then carefully wrapped in a blanket. In this form, they can retain heat for up to 24 hours. At this time, pasteurization of the product takes place inside the cans.
Eggplant lecho with ground paprika for the winter
Ingredients:
- eggplant - 1 kg;
- red tomatoes - 0.5 kg;
- Bulgarian sweet pepper - 0.5 kg;
- garlic - 5 cloves;
- onion - 2 pcs.;
- ground paprika - 1 tsp;
- salt - 1 tsp;
- sugar - 2 tbsp. l.;
- vegetable oil- 60 ml;
- vinegar 5 percent - 2 tbsp. l.
Cooking method
- Prepare sterile jars with lids in advance. At the time of pouring the lecho, they must be absolutely dry, otherwise water drops may cause the product to souring.
- Wash ripe tomatoes, cut the stalks. Grind the tomatoes in a blender or in a meat grinder.
- Wash the pepper, cut in half, remove the seeds. Cut lengthwise into slices or large pieces.
- Wash the eggplant, cut off the stems. Cut into cubes or cut lengthwise into two halves and cut into wide slices.
- Peel the onion from the husk, cut into half rings. Chop the garlic with a knife or put it through a food press.
- Pour oil into a thick-walled pan or cauldron, heat it up. Put onion and sauté until soft. Pour in the tomato paste. Stir and bring to a boil.
- Add pepper, salt, paprika and sugar. When the mass boils again, add the chopped eggplant and garlic. With a moderate boil, cook lecho for about half an hour. 5 minutes before the end of cooking, pour in the vinegar. Stir.
- Arrange the finished lecho in jars. Seal immediately with sterile caps. Turn the jars upside down, wrap them in a blanket. Leave for a day until completely cooled.
Eggplant lecho with carrots for the winter
Ingredients:
- tomatoes - 1 kg;
- eggplant - 2 kg;
- Bulgarian red pepper - 0.5 kg;
- sweet carrots - 0.5 kg;
- onion - 4 pcs.;
- garlic - 1 head;
- vegetable oil - 200 g;
- salt - 2 tbsp. l.;
- sugar - 4 tbsp. l.;
- vinegar 9 percent - 50 ml.
Cooking method
- Select ripe tomatoes. Wash. Cut into several parts, cut the stalks. Grind the tomatoes in a blender or pass through a meat grinder.
- Wash the eggplant, cut off the tail and the opposite tip. Cut into large cubes or sticks. If the eggplants have darkened after cutting, sprinkle them with salt and leave under oppression for half an hour. Then drain the liquid, and squeeze the eggplant lightly.
- Wash the pepper, cut in half, remove the seeds. Cut into wide strips.
- Peel the garlic, wash, chop.
- Carrots clean, wash, grate on a medium grater or cut into strips.
- Wash the jars, sterilize over steam or heat in the oven (put in a cold oven!). Boil the lids for 5 minutes.
- Pour the tomato puree into a wide saucepan and place over moderate heat. When the mass boils, put all the vegetables, salt and sugar, pour in the oil. Stir gently. Simmer over moderate heat for 40 minutes. Add vinegar 5 minutes before the end of cooking.
- When hot, put the lecho into jars. Seal immediately. Place upside down on a flat, warm surface. Wrap up with a blanket. Leave until completely cool.
Eggplant lecho for the winter in a slow cooker
Ingredients:
- red tomatoes - 0.5 kg;
- eggplant - 1 pc.;
- Bulgarian red pepper - 3 pcs.;
- carrots - 2 pcs.;
- onion - 2 pcs.;
- hot pepper - 1 small pod;
- garlic - 3 cloves;
- vegetable oil - 50 g;
- salt - 0.5 tsp;
- sugar - 1 tbsp. l.;
- bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
- vinegar 9 percent - 35 ml.
Cooking method
- Prepare sterile jars in advance by processing them in a way convenient for you. Boil the lids.
- Wash the tomatoes, remove the stalks. wash spicy pepper, take out the seeds. Grind tomatoes and hot peppers in a meat grinder.
- Peel the carrots, wash. Cut into cubes 1 ? 1 cm
- Wash the eggplant, cut off the ends. Cut into large cubes, sticks or wide slices.
- Wash the pepper, remove the seeds. Cut into wide strips or squares.
- Peel the onion, wash, cut into half rings. Peel the garlic, rinse in water, chop.
- Pour oil into the multicooker bowl, heat in the "Frying" or "Baking" mode. Put onions, carrots, Bell pepper and eggplant. Stir and fry for 10 minutes with the lid open.
- Pour vegetables with tomato mass, put garlic, salt, sugar, bay leaf, vinegar. Stir. Close the multicooker lid. Set the "Stew" or "Soup" program. Cook 1 hour.
- Put the hot lecho into jars and immediately seal tightly. Turn upside down, wrap with a blanket. Leave until completely cool.
Note to the owner
Very often, it is canned eggplants that become the culprits of poisoning due to the development of botulinum bacilli in them. Therefore, you need to thoroughly wash not only vegetables, but also all inventory. Lay out canned food only in sterile jars, close them with sterile lids.
Store lecho in a dry, dark, cool place.
Before opening the jar, check if the lid is swollen. If there is bombing, then such canned food cannot be consumed.
Another year has flown by, it's warm outside. The seasonal harvest is in full swing. In the markets, an abundance of bright, juicy vegetables, spicy herbs. How not to take advantage of this situation? From year to year, using a home cookbook, we conserve our favorite recipes.
To prepare lecho with eggplant, tomatoes and peppers for the winter, take these products.
We start by preparing all the vegetables. Rinse young eggplants, cut off the tails on both sides. Cut vegetables into small cubes.
Rinse the bell peppers. Clear the seeds. Cut into large slices, you can even into four halves if the pepper is small.
Peel the onion, cut into cubes or half rings.
Rinse the tomatoes and hot peppers. Remove the seeds from the pepper. Scroll the tomatoes and peppers in a meat grinder.
Add chopped tomatoes with hot peppers to the pan, sunflower oil. Bring to a boil.
Add eggplant, sweet pepper, onion. Stir. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes, with the lid closed, stirring occasionally, as there will not be enough juice at first. Then gradually the vegetables will begin to secrete juice.
After 30 minutes, add salt, sugar, chopped garlic. Stir and boil. Boil 7-8 minutes. At the end, pour in the vinegar and bring to a boil again. Taste and adjust if necessary.
Arrange lecho with eggplants, tomatoes and peppers in sterile jars. Cover with sterilized lids.
Sterilize 20 minutes from the moment of boiling.
Seal tightly, turn over and wrap. Lecho with eggplant, tomatoes and peppers for the winter is ready!
Delicious preparations for you!
Step 1: Prepare vegetables for lecho.
fresh tomatoes must be washed thoroughly cold water, do the same with bell pepper and eggplant. In order to carry out this process better, you can even soak the vegetables in a large bowl in water. minutes for 10-15 and then rinse them. Remove the twig from the tomatoes, if any, and cut off the stem in a circular motion.
Cut the bell pepper in half, after which we remove the stalk and seed core from it. After this, the pepper halves are preferably again rinse well so that no seeds are left on them. If you don't have that much red bell pepper, then you can make it half red and half what it is. 
It is not necessary to peel eggplants, especially if the vegetables are young and their skin is not so dense. But what needs to be done is to cut off their “tail” or stalk with a twig and cut off a few centimeters from the tip of the vegetable. Step 2: Cooking eggplant lecho.
We twist the tomatoes in a meat grinder with medium holes ( or use a blender), pour the resulting mass into a cauldron and let it boil. 
After that, cook over moderate heat. approximately 25-30 minutes. As it was cooked, pour table salt, granulated sugar, vegetable oil into the cauldron, mix the ingredients thoroughly and boil for another half an hour. 
The bell pepper halves need to be cut into two more parts each, and then these parts three more times to make large cubes. We cut the eggplant into cubes. We add all the vegetables to the cauldron to the tomatoes. Let it boil and cook again 25-30 minutes.
Step 3: Roll up lecho with eggplant.
For rolling, sterilize jars and lids in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. Pour the hot mixture of tomato and eggplant into jars and roll up. Wrap with a warm blanket and leave to cool completely. Everything, our miracle lecho is ready. 
Step 4: Serve lecho in Bulgarian style with eggplant.
You can use lecho as with any other dish, or simply separately from everything. My husband loves to eat with fresh bread. Constantly requires supplements. Enjoy your meal! There are so many amazing things in this recipe - this is also the fact that without the participation of vinegar, lecho has sourness (at first I could not understand where, and then I realized it was from fresh delicious tomato), and the fact that nothing needs to be fried (the main thing is that they do not spoil taste qualities and usefulness of products).
All vegetables used in this recipe must be ripe, juicy and grown without the use of chemicals and fertilizers.
To enrich the taste in such a lecho, you can add garlic cloves, cut into 4 parts. It must be laid along with pepper and eggplant.
In order to effectively sterilize the lids, they can be placed in a saucepan, completely filled with water and boiled over low heat after boiling for 12-15 minutes.
