cooking<\/a> with its feet on the ground: nourishing, warming and realistic \u2013 and all the better for it.<\/p>\nVegan aubergine curry<\/p>\n
![\"Aubergines](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/vegan-aubergine-curry.jpeg\")
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Aubergines fried until golden give this curry its richness, while lentils do the quiet work of making it properly filling (The Groovy Food Company)<\/p>\n
Ingredients:<\/p>\n
100g red lentils<\/p>\n
3 sprays oil cooking spray<\/p>\n
1 large onion, grated<\/p>\n
400g tin cherry tomatoes<\/p>\n
1 tsp ground turmeric<\/p>\n
2 large aubergines, cut into 3cm chunks<\/p>\n
2 tbsp groundnut oil<\/p>\n
2 tsp cumin seeds<\/p>\n
2 tsp ground coriander<\/p>\n
4 cardamom pods, split<\/p>\n
4 cloves garlic, crushed<\/p>\n
Small bunch coriander, chopped<\/p>\n
1 tsp garam masala<\/p>\n
Rice and naan, to serve<\/p>\n
Method:<\/p>\n
1. Put the lentils, onion, tomatoes, turmeric and 1 teaspoon of salt in a pan with a tomato-tin of water. <\/p>\n
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 mins until lentils are tender. <\/p>\n
3. Toss the aubergines with the oil and seasoning. Fry in batches until golden and soft. <\/p>\n
4. Return the aubergines to the pan, add spices (except garam masala) and cook 2 minutes. <\/p>\n
5. Add the garlic, then the lentil mixture and 200ml water. Simmer for 20 minutes. <\/p>\n
6. Stir in fresh coriander and garam masala, simmer for 2 minutes more. Serve warm with rice or naan. <\/p>\n
Mediterranean vegetable soup with halloumi \u2018croutons\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/veg-soup-halloumi-croutons.jpeg\")
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open image in gallery<\/p>\n
The kind of soup that feels virtuous right up until you add crisp, salty halloumi \u2013 and suddenly January looks a lot friendlier (The Groovy Food Company)<\/p>\n
Ingredients:<\/p>\n
3 sprays olive oil cooking spray<\/p>\n
500g frozen chargrilled Mediterranean veg mix<\/p>\n
4 celery sticks, finely sliced<\/p>\n
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped<\/p>\n
1 tsp onion granules<\/p>\n
1 tsp dried mixed herbs<\/p>\n
227g tin chopped tomatoes<\/p>\n
600ml chicken stock<\/p>\n
\u00bd lemon, juiced<\/p>\n
10g parsley, finely chopped<\/p>\n
For the halloumi \u2018croutons\u2019:<\/p>\n
2 sprays olive oil cooking spray<\/p>\n
1 tbsp sesame seeds<\/p>\n
200g halloumi, cut into 1cm cubes<\/p>\n
Method:<\/p>\n
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Cook the vegetable mix, celery and garlic for 10 minutes. Add onion granules, herbs, tomatoes and stock. Simmer 20 minutes. Season and finish with lemon and parsley. <\/p>\n
2. For the croutons, spray a pan with oil, coat the halloumi in sesame seeds, and fry until golden (5-7 minutes). <\/p>\n
3. Serve the soup topped generously with warm halloumi cubes. <\/p>\n
Smokey baked beans on toast<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smokey-beans-on-toast.jpeg\")
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open image in gallery<\/p>\n
A grown-up take on baked beans, with smoky spice and chipotle sweetness turning a classic into something dinner-worthy (The Groovy Food Company)<\/p>\n
Ingredients:<\/p>\n
2 red onions<\/p>\n
40ml apple cider vinegar<\/p>\n
4 garlic cloves<\/p>\n
200g bacon lardons<\/p>\n
40ml olive oil<\/p>\n
4 slices bread<\/p>\n
2 tsp smoked paprika<\/p>\n
1 dried bay leaf<\/p>\n
3 \u00d7 400g tins cooked cannellini beans<\/p>\n
50g The Groovy Food Company Chipotle Agave<\/p>\n
Method:<\/p>\n
1. Thinly slice half the onions and toss with vinegar, sugar and salt. Set aside. <\/p>\n
2. Mince garlic and finely dice remaining onion. Cook lardons in a pan until crisp; set aside. <\/p>\n
3. Add the olive oil to the pan, and fry the bread until golden. Remove. <\/p>\n
4. Add the diced onion and garlic to the pan and cook for 6-8 minutes. Add the paprika, chipotle agave and bay leaf. Return lardons. <\/p>\n
5. Add beans with liquid, simmer 4-5 minutes until thickened. Season well. <\/p>\n
6. Spoon beans over toasted bread and top with pickled onions. <\/p>\n
Recipes from groovyfood.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[64,63,137,532],"class_list":{"0":"post-378952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}