Vegetable Stew (Lečo)
Slovakcooking’s note: I LOVE lečo! It’s a simple meal that’s great all day long. Make it for breakfast or for light dinner. So I was very happy when Lenka from Slovakmama sent in this illustrated recipe. Her way is very similar to how it’s made in my family, except that we make this dish completely vegetarian – so no hot dogs. We also usually do not put in onions, or sour cream, so it’s just eggs, tomatoes and peppers. Lenka also used Vegeta in her recipe. This is a very popular, all-purpose seasoning found in every Slovak kitchen. I don’t like to use Vegeta since it contains MSGs – plus it’s not traditional-enough for me. Anyway, here is Lenka’s lečo recipe:
Ingredients: 6 tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes from my garden, but you can buy whatever kind you like), 2 peppers (no dark green) yellow or red, 2 onions, 4 gloves of garlic (I used small heads of garlic grown in my garden), 2 eggs, 1 big sausage, polska kielbasa or some type of hot dog (i usually use what I have left over in fridge; also cooked ground beef or ham is fine too), 5 table spoon oil, sour cream, salt, vegeta, bread
Cut up all ingredients based on the pictures below. In pan, saute the onion and after 7 min add minced garlic, sausage and peppers. Cook about 10 min and add tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are soft (I like them a little crunchy and not cooked all the way through). Taste for seasoning as the amount of salt depends on the saltiness of your meat. Use salt and vegeta to taste. Then add 2 mixed eggs and cook an additional 5 min. Now you are done!
I put sour cream on top of plate, mix it up, and eat with good bread. My American husband doesn’t like sour cream, so you skip the last step. However, I sneak a little bit sour cream in the finished dish…just don’t tell him. He thinks there is not sour cream in his plate.
The ingredients for lečo, Slovak vegetable stew.
Saute the onion (cibuľa) and garlic (cesnak). Add sausages (klobásy).
Also add the peppers (papriky) and tomatoes (paradajky). Stir in the eggs (vajcia) once the vegetables soften.
Enjoy with good bread (chlieb). Dobrú chuť!
Visit SlovakMama.com to see the original recipe. For another simple breakfast dish, check out hemendex.
How do you make lečo? Please share your recipes. And if you took photos and use Facebook, please share your photos at http://www.facebook.com/pages/SlovakCookingcom/120095713564
I make lečo a similar way as in above recipe, with few differences. I don’t use meat or sausages. I use more eggs (probably 3-4 for the above recipe) I like is spicy and I throw in a couple of diced chilly peppers.
I serve it with potatoes and sour cream or good yogurt.
Thanks Miro. I think I am with you on the eggs. I make it so it’s about equal amount of veggies and eggs. Never tried it with sour cream though.
Sour cream is optional. I put it in small bowl, and who wants it can take as much as they like (or none) and put it on their serving. I learned to use sour cream later in my cooking ventures. I like a spicy food, and a bunch of vegies. Sour cream takes out a bite and acidity out of it. However, many folks don’t like a sour cream, thus make it optional, and as it’s not a part of cooking process (more like a side ingredient to finished meal), it does not change the taste of food.
Oh BTW, one more thing I forgot, anytime when a recipe start with sauteing onions and garlic, I use some butter in it. e.g., when it calls for 4 tablespoon of oil, I use 1 tablespoon of butter and 3 tablespoons of oil. It does not burn and caramelize much better
I never had it with sour cream and use more eggs and don’t use garlic. I like good hungarian sausage in it.Have you tried it with rice? I like it that way.
I put paprika (the spice) in mine… more Hungarian, I guess. My Slovak friend taught me the recipe, but she ate it in Budapest.
Lucia / Steph, thank you for your comments. I also use more eggs. And I spoke with my mom yesterday and turns out I was mistaken. She always puts onions in lečo, I guess I’ve been making it incorrectly all these years.
This is a Hungarian dish (correct spelling is:lecsó), NOT slovakian!!! 99.9 % of recipes in your website is Hungarian. This is NOT slovakian cuisine. There is no slovak cuisine, the only one slovak dish is the haluski.
The slovak history has began in 1991.
Hey József, thanks for your comment. I am assuming, from your name and your comment, that you are Hungarian. Would you care to share your family’s recipe for this dish? It would be neat to compare the Hungarian version to the Slovak one.
And as far as the cuisine goes, every cuisine takes from their neighbors. Slovak food has been influenced by the cuisines of all their neighbors, just as, I am sure, Hungarian cuisine has been influenced by the foods from the surrounding countries. You can definitely see this in Slovak cuisine. Some of our favorite dishes are sausages (with German, Hungarian, Polish influences), schnitzels (generally associated with Austria but also having Italian origins), pierogi (Polish) and even stuffed cabbage (popular in Ukraine, Greece, etc…). One dish that illustrates this multi-ethnicity is what we call Hungarian Goulash. This is a thicker stew than the soupy kotlíkový guláš, and is served with steamed bread dumplings. Similar dumplings are popular in the Czech Republic, and the name for them in both languages is knedľa or knedlík, which clearly comes from the German Knödel.
Lubos, well said.
Oh my József, Lubos was nice, I’ll be a bit rude but without starting ethnic war.
First, as it started with leco. What would you say if you found out that the meal has its origin in Bulgaria, not Hungary. Of course it was adapted by many countries. If your only base claiming it’s Hungarian food, be my guest. Nothing surprising there, Slovakia was administered by Hungarians under Austria-Hungarian monarchy and this Hungarian names were prevalent in many aspects of society, thus lecsó or leco.
Now lets talk about history, your comment that Slovakia history started in 1991 was a bit offending. But lets no be so pitiful and small, lets rely on facts. Slavic tribes in Slovakia are well documented in history, going back to Roman times, described by Romans in their venture into that territory. It was a strong Slavic territory united under Moravian Slavic kingdom.
Hungarian influence and strong kingdom started in 9 century after The Magyars settled in Hungary prior to 896. Árpád was the Magyar leader whom sources name as the single leader who unified the Magyar tribes via the Covenant of Blood (Hungarian: Vérszerződés) forged one nation, thereafter known as the Hungarian nation and led the new nation to the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century. From 895 to 902 the whole area of the Carpathian Basin was conquered by the Hungarians.
Did it every crossed your mind that Hungarian language is nothing like surrounding countries languages, especially Slavic or Germans? It’s because it was “imported”
As far as food goes, and claiming that 99% of recipes on this site are Hungarian, I just say it gently “YOU ARE SO WRONG”!
As with any country a cuisine will absorb cooking habits of the neighboring countries, it was so more the case under Austrian monarchy where everybody cuisine was influenced by somebody else. Of course, there are recipes that are derived from Hungarian cuisine, chicken paprikas, chicken on sour cream, many others. So there is influence from Austrian, Hungarian, Czech and German cuisine, never mind surrounding Slavic nations (Poland, Russia, etc.)
However, after cooking countries adopt some recipes and cooking habits, adopting them to a local environment, it becomes that country cuisine.
Yes, Slovaks have some original recipes that are special to Slovakia and nobody else. Hungarians don’t have brindza cheese and all associated recipes, neither you use a cabbage to the extend we do, potatoes are our thing in Hungary it’s more wheat and thus refined dumplings made from flour not from potatoes.
Cabbage soup, another hallmark of Slovak cuisine has no resemblance of Hungarian doing. It’s more close (though different) from Russian borsch.
Yes, Hungary adopted many fine recipes from other countries, it’s obvious especially in pastry area, German, Austrian, Czech influence, made you “dorts and pastry”
If you wand to come and contribute to this site, come on, tell us how you, your mom, or the family cook some meals posted on this site.
Don’t come and display the attitude “you have no cuisine, it’s all Hungarian, and your history started in 1991”
It’s offensive and you have a different agenda than talking food, so do not abuse this site.
Regards – Miro
I was looking for a leco recipe and came across a refreshing history lesson Thanks Miro, well said. Now I am off to make the leco!
Good for you Miro. Your reply was right on and intelligently written. Some people are so rude.
Well said Miro. We Slovaks are a peace loving people, so sometimes it is hard to stick up for ourselves. You did a good job. zbohom!
The first time I ever ate lecso was in Turkey and it was called menemet,…. since, as far as I know the Ottomans brought paprika and tomatoes to Hungary I just always considered it a Turkish dish with a Hungarian name and I had no idea you guys eat in Slovakia…..
Good to know… I will look for it next time I am up in the mountains….
Regarding language and politics, I do not give a rat’s ass about it…. Both Hungarian and Slovak are cool sounding… I love being on Slovakia and not understanding what anybody is saying.. makes me really pay attention to what is going on around me….. politics, well who cares. there are great ppl in both countries and good food… that’s all that counts.
Why are you provoking about “Slovak history” on recepie site?
Here we go again all “slovaks” are Hungarians this was my Slovak mother recipe. I guarantee she never traveled through Austria/Hungary. How can you tell me it is Hungarian dish if I called Leco (not letzo). I know you would like claim all Slovak to be Hungarian however this will not work in USA.
Miro: well said.
It just so happens I have all these ingredients handy and followed this recipe via the wikihow site.
That write-up left out the fact to mix in the egg, but I got the answer here.
I enjoy the site. Cheers,
Rich in Alaska.
Hey Rich, good to hear you got to try this dish. Another good egg dish is “hemendex” or “ham and eggs”. It’s basically your breakfast eggs with sausage, but with ham. Recipe:
http://www.slovakcooking.com/2009/recipes/hemendex/
By the way, I have no clue who posted the recipe to WikiHow. I found out about it cause a buddy sent me the link this morning. The pictures looked quite familiar…
Cool, I was taught to make my ham and eggs that way by a roommate when I was in college in Belgium. Thanks for the reminder.
Dear Miro and Lubos!
I don’t want to be offensive. I would like to talk about cooking, not the history. But your comment on the Hungarian language isn’t correct.
Miro said:
“Hungarian language is nothing like surrounding countries languages, especially Slavic or Germans”
The Hungarian language is very different from every langauages (but there are some Slavic and German words in it). Our langauge is very ancient and descended from the Sumer langauage.
I know the cuisine of Slovakia, because I was born in Komárom (Komarno in your language). I lived there in my childhood, under Gustav Husak, the bloodiest dictator’s communist regime.
In Hungary you can eat halusky with bryndza, but the Hunagrian name of this dish is sztrapacska. Bryndza cheese is juhtúró. Kapustnica is “korhelyleves” in Hungary.
Knedla is a Czech dish. When I was a child (in the 80s)I have never seen knedla in Komárom.
Hey Jozsef, thank you for your follow up. It’s interesting to see that halušky are known as “sztrapacska” in Hungarian. This (strapačky) is one of two names used to describe halušky in Slovak. It comes from strapatý meaning shaggy. Depending on who you ask (me included), this refers to halušky with sauerkraut, since they end up looking bit shaggy. Other people think that halušky made with potatoes are strapačky, while non-potato ones are just “halušky”. However, this doesn’t make sense to me since bryndzové halušky, our national dish, have to be made with potatoes.
Here is my recipe for strapačky: http://www.slovakcooking.com/2010/recipes/pasta/cabbage-halusky-strapacky/
Btw, I erased your other comment in Hungarian. I have a policy of allowing comments only in languages which I understand, and unfortunately I have absolutely zero knowledge of Hungarian. You can leave it again with an English translation if you wish.
Hi,
Interesting explanation of strapacky vs halusky. They are Sztrapacska and galuska in mainland Hungary. My grandpa called sztrapacska “nyogvenyelo” something like “hard to swallow” because it stuck to your throat when eating:-) I love it with sheep cheese and szalonna drippings…
I am looking for a bobajka recipe NOT from scratch. Any advice? Thanks
Cheers (originally from Hungary)
Dear József,
That’s good you don’t want to be offensive, then don’t be!
How is one suppose to take your comments about “Slovaks have no history, Slovaks have no cuisine – it’s all Hungarian, etc.)
You want to talk food? Great, talk food and recipes, how you or you family cook and prepare food.
Why do you say “I know the cuisine of Slovakia, because I was born in Komárom (Komarno in your language). I lived there in my childhood, under Gustav Husak, the bloodiest dictator’s communist regime.”
First, if you lived in Komarno, you lived in Slovakia but it was a border town with majority of Hungarian population (kind of like living in south texas and sying you understand “American cuisine“), spoken language (even official) was Hungarian, etc. never mind a cuisine, maybe that’s where your confusion comes from, so you don’t really talk about Slovak cuisine.
However, what perplex me even more is your comment about “Gustav Husak, the bloodiest dictator … etc)
József, what that has to do with cooking? And let me remind you, I lived through Hungarian unrest in 50’th and bloody suppression by your own leaders. Some 20,000 people being slaughtered, hanged from lamp posts, some 40,000 being exiled, etc., but you want to talk about Gustav Husak?! Nothing like what has happened in 50’th in Hungary that has ever happened in Slovakia.
So please lets get back to cooking, do you have any good recipes? Post them!!!
I had this for the first time this past weekend at a Rusyn Festival. It was excellent! I was also told that you can preserve the vegetables by canning them together and when ready to serve add the egg and klobasy.
Wow, Lubos I put my hat down (klobuk dolu) on how diplomatic and warm hearted and above all generous were you replying to Jozsef.
No hard feelings Jozsef, but your comment was rather hasty plus kinda of a slap in a face to any Slovakian out there. I have a feeling that you didnt mean to offend anyone though little research prior replying would have been appreciated. Im half Slovakian and half Bulgarian, was born and raised in south west Slovakia, now am just another expatriate. And since am an expatiate I do miss some of Slovakian dishes great deal,and try to make them from time to time. Regarding leco or lesco or lecho , spelling depends on where u come from, pointless to argue where the dish originated, personally i believe its eastern/central European and the recipe posted on this webpage is known as one of the traditional recipes in Slovakia, although am sure that in other Eastern or Central European coutries they also know this recipe possibly with slight modifications.
Pls. lets stick to delicious cooking rather then ugly politics. At the end of a day politics only pretends to serve the “average Joe”. And by the way Gustav Husak was only a puppet in hands of way mightier and bloodier puppeteer. Plus comparing to Chaucesco he doesnt stand a chance, dont you think so.
Dobru chut everyone;)
A Czech friend made me lečo, but without the sour cream. I like this dish !! It’s very tasty and it fills you up !!
First, I think politics shouldn’t be mixed with recipes.
As a second note, Slovaks and Hungarians lived (and still live) together, borrowing habits, recipes, words, etc. from each other, so no wonder that both nation regards them as their own. My family is also a mix of both nations, and I can hardly distinguish which recipe is Hungarian and which is Slovak, but possibly gulyás is one side and strapacky (called pucoka in the nyíregyháza dialect) is the other side.
by the way, do you know bobajka? It is a typical tirpak (tirpak is the name of the slovaks living in Nyíregyháza) Christmas dish.
Meanwhile I found the recipe of bobalky, so my question is answered 🙂
Coming from Slovakia, leco is one of my all-time favourites. However, since I am now living in Finland, I can get only paprika kapia…I am somewhat hesitant to try leco from kapia, has someone of you guys tried that?
And contributing to the other discussion running here: it might be interesting to “dig out” the roots of origin of certain foods, but I think it’s not that important. National cuisine is also influenced by the type of vegetables and plants which people of that nation can grow in their gardens. If we have paprika, and there are chicken running around the yard, why shouldn’t we have kuraci paprikas of some sort – disregarding where the recipe comes from? I am sure for example Bulgarians or Croatians know it in their own version too. 🙂 Diversity is the best. When it comes down to food, puritanism is boring, we cannot eat just the same 2-3 meals every day again and again… (But it’s still the best thing if you succeed to make your meals taste like your grandmother’s…)
Lubos, great job. I was dying to eat knedla and buchty and all, but I never got a good recipe until I found yours. Thanks a lot.
And now I can go back to eat my potato knedla with sour cabbage. Came out great XD
I think it would be OK from kapia. In my opinion kapia tastes better than the green or white varieties
My recipe that I will preform tonight starts with a sausage. I don’t know which one I´ll take.. Slovaks use spicy Klobasa but this time I´ll hang on to the czech version.. a milder kind of sausage. Most important thing is to get it on 140°C which won´t happen if you start with onion..because the juice released by the onion cools the sausage to 100°.. So this is what I do in every recipe, I start with meat on a pan that is so hot that it nearly starts to melt. I wait a few seconds until one side gets a bit brown, than I shake it all and wait a few more seconds.. after that I´ll add the onion. After a short time I add the paprika and cover turn the heat to minimum.. When paprika is cooked soft, I add the peeled tomatoes. I peel them coz the tomato pulp is the only thing i don´t like in a leczo.
Along with the tomatoes will add some Vegeta Natur, a new type of Vegeta without taste enhancing additives – I reccomend strongly, black pepper and, yeah.. loads of garlic, finely chopped and lemon juice..
In the meantime I will make the jars sterile, I will heat them up together with the lids and the spoon I want to use, 200°C for 10 minutes.
I like leco, my dad makes it too spicy for me! I remember my mum making me take it to school in a thermos for lunch!!! Of course all the other kids said it looked like puke! Yeah, that’s the way to make friends! Now I’m older and wiser! Love it!
I always thought lecso originated from Serbia. Anyway, we (Hungarians) make it with eggs; with rice; with eggs and rice; with sausage; with eggs, rice and sasuage; and with virsli; and the above ingredients, except virsli and sasuage are interchangable. Also, my mom used lecso as a base for porkolt (stew) when in a hurry and canned lecso for the winter.
I came to look for recipes too but was distracted by the mini-civil war!
At least back into the 1800s my relatives identified themselves as “Slovak”. There may not have been an official country but Slovaks have existed as an ethnic group for quite some time. I also have many relatives still living in Slovakia and they do identify many dishes as being Slovak.
I DONT CARE where it comes from,its a quick
and tasty meal or snack hmmm.I am English and
will cook it again.
Hi Lubos:
I found today your website when I was searching for a “lečo” recipe. I tasted it the first time when a friend invite me for a lunch at work. I am a Spaniard living in The Czech Republic, and the dish my friend gave me sounded to me so familiar. Actually, we cook in Spain something similar, named “pisto”. Pisto comes from times when Spain was part of the Arab world, hundred years ago. There are many ways to cook “pisto”, but it is based mainly in vegetables and olive oil.
So, what I want to say is that many meals are spread over the countries by the people who move there for living, and does not matter where it originally comes from.
Recently I was making a pasta sauce that uses similar ingredients: red and green bell peppers, minced onions, sliced mushrooms and my Slovak wife asked: “Are you making lec^o?” At the end you add some “sherry vinegar” or balsamic vinegar. No eggs or sausage. The recipe is from The Complete Robuchon.
Everyone knows this dish was invented by the Irish.
This most reminds me of sharshuka which is Israeli, or middle eastern… Dont want to offend anyone on that front! Origins of this dish could start a war! Just kidding, any way i am lame i just bought it in a jar from the billa in prague and ate it with pasta and cheese, very pregnant couldn’t be bothered to make it myself right now, but i enjoy reading about everyones experience with this dish.
Ludwig says: Leco , what a quick and tasty dish. Our maid in South Africa love it. We are make it for past 46 years in Port Elizabeth.
As a Englishman just about to move to Slovakia I liked looking at all the dishes.I hope to try a few Smashing
Hi, my mom Darina and myself enjoyed reading the Leco story and history. We are from Slovakia, living in Los Angeles and mom just made “Leco” , so we were trying to find an english translation for this meal. That is how we ended up here. Wishing you all the best.
Check out my mom’s Instagram – cookingbakingdanda.
Sincerely, Adriana
This is not real leco.
I have just had my lunch – Lečo, naturally, and decided to look up some recipes on the same theme. I did not realize that in addition to a nice recipe on this website I would also get a history lesson.
I am in my seventies now and I remember having Lečo while growing up in Central Slovakia. I live in Canada now and Lečo is still one of my favourite recipes, still.
Being on primarily plant-based diet, this is one recipe that I enjoy immensely. My recipe, made with eggs, satisfies all the requirements of a well balanced meal – carbs, protein and fat, in a truly tasty dish.
My leco is Lard, onion. Capsicum. Chilli a little be. 1 spoon tomato sauce. Salt. Pour hot water over tomatoes for 1 and half minute, peel them, cut and add to the pan with other softly cook ingredients. Last think 4 eggs for two people mix in. Meantime cut smoked sausage in peaces and put under grill. On the plate put sausages on top of vegetable base.