This Gypsy version of this classic Hungarian dish comes from Cigányok főztje (“Roma Dishes”) by Géza Csemer. Recipes in the book don’t contain any quantities for the ingredients, so there’s lots of leeway. This is “the most sacred Gypsy dish,” writes Csemer. Usually people use half as much tomatoes as peppers, he notes. “Romas tend to like it more like a stew, with not too much tomato.”
Ingredients:
Smoked szalonna
Onion, sliced
Peppers, chopped into rings or strips
Tomatoes, peeled
Sugar
Salt
Paprika
Render the szalonna and sauté the sliced onions (a lot of them!) in it. Add the chopped peppers and sauté under a lid for a short time. Add the tomatoes and keep cooking, uncovered, so that not too much juice is left. Add some sugar, salt and paprika and cook until the peppers are soft. Lecsó with scrambled eggs is considered a breakfast dish. It is prepared by mixing the lecsó with the mixed eggs.
