Leczo (Hungarian-style vegetable stew)

Written by on in Dinner

Leczo is a late summer stew, served with sausages and crusty slice of a sourdough bread to dunk all the juices from slowly cooked vegetables. As the November settles in and the days become shorter and colder, in order to ring back some of the summer flavours’ memories, I created this warming one-pot. The vegetables are gently simmered until they create a light stew. The beauty of this dish lies in its adaptability – you can use whatever you find at a farmers’ market or in your garden. I combined the very last aubergines and sweet zucchinis from the veg box and my garden with colourful peppers and just a splash of smoked paprika and flowery marjoram. I have also added yellow split peas to make it heartier and filling.

This recipe is definitely quite a bit delayed, but in my defence, the fatigue of the first three months of pregnancy has not allowed me to do anything other than bing watch on Netflix and munch on freshly baked bread… Hope to be fully back in this space now!

Leczo (Hungarian-style vegetable stew)
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Leczo (Hungarian-style vegetable stew)

Recipe by monika.gemmetCourse: DinnerDifficulty: Easy
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

1

hour 

A warming one-pot bringing back the late summer flavours.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp. rapeseed oil

  • 1 onion, chopped

  • 550g aubergines, diced into 3cm pieces

  • 850g zucchini, diced into 3cm pieces

  • 700g peppers, different colours, diced into 3 cm pieces

  • 3 tsp sweet paprika

  • 2 tsp smoked paprika

  • 1 tsp spicy paprika

  • 2 tsp dried wild garlic

  • 2 tsp dried marjoram

  • 2 tsp dried basil

  • 900g tomatoes, diced

  • 2 tbsp. tomato purée

  • 200g yellow split peas, soaked overnight

  • 10g fresh parsley, roughly chopped, a few leaves picked to decorate

  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

  • Heat the rapeseed oil in a Dutch oven.
  • Once heated, fry the onion for 5 minutes until translucent on a medium heat.
  • Add the aubergines and sauté until cooked through.
  • Put in the zucchini and the peppers.
  • Season with salt and pepper, then add all the spices, stir together for 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Add the tomatoes and the tomato purée.
  • Drain and rinse the soaked yellow split peas and put them into the stew.
  • Bring the mixture to boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
  • Take around 250 ml of the stew and blend it to a purée, then return it to the stew.
  • Mix in the parsley and decorate with the leftover leaves.

Notes

  • Make sure you sauté the aubergines until they are cooked through before adding in the tomatoes – if you add the tomatoes too early in the cooking process, you will end up with bitter aubergines and their cooking time will extend too.
  • This dish is usually served with bread, but you can also add rice, bulgur, millet or buckwheat to it.
  • The recipe below is an interpretation of a traditional recipe as you would normally add only peppers to the stew.
  • If you have more time, let the vegetables simmer for on a low heat for another hour – the more cooking time, the more tender they become.