Name: Lecho
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Bulgarian
Ingredients: 200 g Onion; 40 ml Sunflower oil; 600 g Red bell pepper; 500 g Ripe tomatoes; 3 cloves Garlic cloves; 5 g Sweet smoked paprika; 10 g Caster sugar; 8 g Fine sea salt; 2 g Ground black pepper; 4 large Eggs

About this dish

Lecho belongs to the family of pepper-and-tomato stews that stretches across the Balkans and Central Europe, but the Bulgarian version leans harder on the peppers themselves than on the tomato, which stays a background sauce rather than the point of the dish. It was built to use the two vegetables that ripen at exactly the same moment at the end of summer, in whatever quantity the garden happened to produce that year, and cracking eggs into the finished stew turns a vegetable side into a full meal without adding meat.

Vegetarian
Gluten-free
Lactose-free
Not vegan because of Eggs

Ingredients

4servings

200gOnion
40mlSunflower oil
600gRed bell pepper
500gRipe tomatoes
3clovesGarlic cloves
5gSweet smoked paprika
10gCaster sugar
8gFine sea salt
2gGround black pepper
4largeEggs

Instructions

Sauté the chopped onion in the oil over medium heat for about 8 minutes, until soft and translucent.
8 min
Tip: Take the onion to soft and sweet, not browned — a caramelised onion would fight the fresh, bright flavour the peppers are about to add.
Add the sliced red peppers and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften at the edges.
10 min
Tip: Cut the peppers into strips rather than dice — lecho is meant to look like stewed vegetables, not a diced salsa, and strips also cook more evenly.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes, garlic, paprika, sugar, salt and pepper, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes until it thickens into a loose sauce.
15 min
Tip: The sugar is not for sweetness you'll taste directly — it's there to balance the tomatoes' acidity, which is sharper than it will taste once the dish is finished and cooled.
Make four small wells in the stew, crack an egg into each, cover the pan and cook for 5-6 minutes until the whites are set but the yolks stay soft.
6 min
Tip: Keep the heat gentle here and don't stir once the eggs go in — a hard simmer will break the yolks apart into the sauce instead of leaving them whole to spoon out.