LETSHO

Balkan Pepper Stew - Letsho, Letcho.


Half a dozen fresh peppers, chopped – Bell, Mulato Isleño, or fresh ancho (or a variety of smaller green and yellow peppers).
Half a dozen Roma tomatoes, or three or four beefsteak tomatoes. Peeled, seeded, chopped.
One large onion. Chopped.
One or two garlic cloves, optional, and however you like them fragmented.
One Tablespoon Paprika.
A quarter teaspoon caraway or cumin seeds (different in taste, but either works).
Salt, pepper, cayenne.


In the skillet, sauté the onion in olive oil till starting to colour. Add the peppers, and stir-fry till fragrant. Add the tomatoes and spices, and simmer for about ten minutes. It should be a moist stew with a recognizable lumpiness, neither soppy slop nor stiff goo.

Can be augmented with chunked zuchini or smoked sausage, even a nice fatty paprika sausage or something from Louisiana. If your name is Spiros, leave out the onion – I know how you are about those things.

This can also be used with little meatballs as a side dish, or with a fried egg for breakfast.

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Note: Something like this was what Dovbear (the blogger, not the bawuste Maggid of Mezeritch) dined on following the fast of Tisha B'Av. But you probably did the same with herring, kichel, and a shot of Talisker, didn't you?