Lecsó
A Hungarian stewed pepper dish that's honestly a 19th-century creation, not an ancient one — it took shape after New World peppers and tomatoes spread through the Carpathian Basin, with some historians crediting Bulgarian market gardeners working in Hungary in the 1870s for popularizing the combination there. What sets it apart from ratatouille or piperade is real and specific: Hungarian paprika, sweet wax or banana peppers rather than bell peppers, and the common stir-in of Hungarian smoked sausage or scrambled egg, making it a home-style one-pot dish rather than a vegetable-forward, herb-driven one.
Meat-optionalVegetarian-optional
⚠ Contains: Egg. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
Ingredients
- 6 Hungarian wax peppers (or a mix with bell pepper), sliced
- 4 tomatoes, diced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp lard or oil
- 1 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
- 200g Hungarian smoked sausage (kolbász), sliced (optional)
- 2 eggs (optional)
- Salt
Steps
- Sauté the onion in lard until soft.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the paprika, being careful not to scorch it.
- Add the sliced peppers and diced tomatoes, and simmer until the peppers are tender and the mixture is stewy, not soupy.
- Add the sliced sausage to heat through, or crack in the eggs and scramble through at the end.
- Season with salt and serve.