Tojásos Lecsó

Ingredients

• 700 g Hungarian wax peppers or pointed sweet peppers, seeded and cut into 1 cm strips
• 500 g ripe tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 150 g smoked bacon, diced
• 1 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• crusty white bread, to serve

Before you cook

• Seed the peppers and cut them into 1 cm strips.
• Score a cross in each tomato, cover them with boiling water for 30 seconds, then slip off the skins and chop them.
• Slice the onions thinly and dice the bacon.
• Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt in a jug.

Steps

1. Fry the diced bacon in a wide heavy pan over medium heat for 6 minutes, until the fat has run out and the pieces are crisp.
2. Add the sliced onions and cook them for 8 minutes, until soft and beginning to colour.
3. Add all the pepper strips and cook for 6 minutes, stirring now and then, until they have lost their raw crunch but still hold shape.
4. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the paprika, turning it through the hot fat for 20 seconds.
5. Return the pan to the heat and add the chopped tomatoes, which must go in last so the peppers do not stew.
6. Add the sugar, the salt and the pepper, then simmer uncovered for 8 minutes, until the tomatoes have collapsed into a thick sauce.
7. Turn the heat down to low and pour the beaten eggs across the surface.
8. Draw a wooden spoon slowly through the pan every few seconds for 2 minutes, until the eggs are just set in soft folds.
9. Take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look slightly underdone, because they carry on setting.
10. Serve the lecsó straight from the pan with thick slices of white bread.