(Vegetarian Tastes of Toronto)
Steam or boil potatoes for about 5 minutes, they should still be firm. Drain, mash slightly, and set aside. Cook noodles and drain. At the same time, sauté onions in a frying pan until they are nicely browned. Add salt and paprika. Stir well, then remove from heat.
Add the potatoes to the onions, mix well, then combine with the noodles. Make sure all the noodles are gently coated with the potato/onion mixture. Garnish with parsley.
Sauté bell peppers, hot pepper, and onion in oil in a large frying pan along with salt for 3 minutes. Add tomato and sauté for another 3 minutes, then add paprika. Simmer on medium heat until everything is tender.
The book suggests serving over rice or noodles.
For a more authentic Hungarian experience: Try adding mushrooms. Hungarians tend to combine an equal amount of tomatoes and green peppers. Add more than the suggested amount of paprika, and you can throw some hot pepper in too. Even if you think it might suit the dish well, do not add garlic. Never serve over noodles, no matter what the book says, only rice. Freeze leftovers; they can be thawed and eaten later, and are good when added to appropriate soups.
These are two veganized versions of Hungarian dishes. Crumplis Testa is a main dish which has a reputation for being “poor peoples’ food”, while the Lecsó (pronounced "lech-o") is more of a side dish. I am indebted to Enikö Farkas for offering suggestions and corrections to the recipes as they appeared in the book.
When we first tried them at home we poured the Lecsó over the Crumplis Testa, which we subsequently learned was not done, but I liked it that way.