comfort food<\/a> that won\u2019t leave you sluggish afterwards \u2013 the kind you\u2019ll want to return to, again and again, until spring finally arrives.<\/p>\nSticky soy and sesame baked chicken (33.2g protein)<\/p>\n
Ingredients:<\/p>\n
4 skin-on chicken legs\u2060<\/p>\n
1 crushed star anise\u2060<\/p>\n
3 tbsp dark soy sauce\u2060<\/p>\n
3cm piece fresh ginger, grated\u2060<\/p>\n
1 tbsp The Groovy Food Company Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil<\/p>\n
2 tsp honey\u2060<\/p>\n
1 sliced orange and the juice of 1 orange\u2060<\/p>\n
200g basmati rice\u2060<\/p>\n
200g sliced spring greens\u2060<\/p>\n
4 sliced spring onions\u2060<\/p>\n
Method:<\/p>\n
1. Heat your oven to 180C. Heat a shallow casserole dish over a medium heat and add the chicken legs, cooking until brown all over. \u2060<\/p>\n
2. Mix together the crushed star anise, soy sauce, ginger, coconut oil, orange juice and honey in a bowl, then pour over the chicken. Add the slices of orange and roast in the over for about 30-40 minutes, basting halfway through.\u2060<\/p>\n
3. While the chicken is roasting, cook the rice in boiling, salted water for around 12 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked, stir the spring greens into the sauce and return to the over for another couple of minutes. <\/p>\n
Chickpea curry (18.2g protein)<\/p>\n
![\"Layers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/healthy-comfort-food-curry.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Layers of spice, creamy yoghurt and roasted cauliflower make this curry the kind of midweek saviour you\u2019ll turn to again and again (The Groovy Food Company)<\/p>\n
Ingredients:<\/p>\n
400g cauliflower, cut into florets\u2060<\/p>\n
4 Sprays of The Groovy Food Company Butter Flavoured Cooking Spray\u2060<\/p>\n
\u00bc tsp cumin seeds\u2060<\/p>\n
1 onion, chopped\u2060<\/p>\n
20g ginger, peeled and chopped\u2060<\/p>\n
2 cloves garlic, chopped\u2060<\/p>\n
20g unsalted butter\u2060<\/p>\n
1 tsp garam masala\u2060<\/p>\n
\u00bd tsp ground cumin\u2060<\/p>\n
\u00bd tsp ground fenugreek\u2060<\/p>\n
\u00bd tsp smoked paprika\u2060<\/p>\n
\u00bc tsp chilli powder\u2060<\/p>\n
300ml passata\u2060<\/p>\n
300ml fresh vegetable stock\u2060<\/p>\n
400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained\u2060<\/p>\n
1 tsp runny honey\u2060<\/p>\n
100g natural yoghurt\u2060<\/p>\n
100g baby spinach\u2060<\/p>\n
20g flaked toasted almonds\u2060<\/p>\n
20g coriander, roughly chopped\u2060<\/p>\n
600g steamed brown rice, to serve\u2060<\/p>\n
Method:\u2060<\/p>\n
1. Heat the oven to 200C\/fan 180C\/gas 6. Line a baking tray with baking paper, scatter over the cauliflower florets, the cooking spray and sprinkle with the cumin seeds, seasoning well. Transfer to the oven and roast for 25-30 minutes, tossing halfway through, until lightly charred. Set aside.\u2060<\/p>\n
2. Put the onion, ginger, garlic and 2 tablespoons of water in a mini food processor, and blitz to a pur\u00e9e. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once it starts to foam, add the onion mixture and cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden. Add the spices and cook for 1 minute. Add the passata, stock, chickpeas, honey and cauliflower florets, and simmer for 10 minutes.\u2060<\/p>\n
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the yoghurt a spoonful at a time \u2013 this will help to prevent it splitting. Once incorporated, return to a low heat and stir in the spinach in batches, cooking until wilted. Serve, garnished with the almonds and coriander, and the rice alongside.\u2060<\/p>\n
Burnt aubergine veggie chilli (15g protein)<\/p>\n
![\"Smoky,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/healthy-comfort-food-chilli.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Smoky, rich and deeply satisfying, this chilli proves plant-based comfort food can still pack serious depth and indulgence (The Groovy Food Company)<\/p>\n
Ingredients:<\/p>\n
1 aubergine\u2060<\/p>\n
1 tbsp olive oil or rapeseed oil\u2060<\/p>\n
1 red onion, diced\u2060<\/p>\n
2 carrots, finely diced\u2060<\/p>\n
70g puy lentils or green lentils, rinsed\u2060<\/p>\n
30g red lentils, rinsed\u2060<\/p>\n
400g canned kidney beans\u2060<\/p>\n
3 tbsp dark soy sauce\u2060<\/p>\n
400g can chopped tomatoes\u2060<\/p>\n
20g dark chocolate, finely chopped\u2060<\/p>\n
\u00bc tsp chilli flakes\u2060<\/p>\n
2 tsp dried oregano\u2060<\/p>\n
2 tsp ground cumin\u2060<\/p>\n
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika\u2060<\/p>\n
1 tsp coriander\u2060<\/p>\n
1 tsp cinnamon\u2060<\/p>\n
800ml vegetable stock\u2060<\/p>\n
\u00bd lime, juiced\u2060<\/p>\n
1 tbsp The Groovy Food Company Coconut Sugar\u2060<\/p>\n
To serve:<\/p>\n
Brown rice \u2060<\/p>\n
Tortilla chips, mashed avocado, yoghurt or sour cream, grated cheddar, roughly chopped coriander (optional)\u2060<\/p>\n
\u2060Method:<\/p>\n
1. If you have a gas hob, put the aubergine directly onto a lit ring to char completely, turning occasionally with kitchen tongs, until burnt all over. Alternatively, use a barbecue or heat the grill to its highest setting and cook, turning occasionally, until completely blackened (the grill won\u2019t give you the same smoky flavour). Set aside to cool on a plate, then peel off the charred skin and remove the stem. \u2060<\/p>\n
2. Roughly chop the flesh and set aside.\u2060<\/p>\n
3. In a large pan, heat the oil, add the onion and carrots with a pinch of salt, and fry over a low-medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the carrots have softened.\u2060<\/p>\n
4. Add the aubergine, both types of lentils, the kidney beans with the liquid from the can, soy sauce, tomatoes, chocolate, chilli powder, oregano and the spices. Stir to combine, then pour in the stock, add The Groovy Food Company Coconut Sugar. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to very low. Cover with a lid and cook for 1\u00bd hours, checking and stirring every 15-20 minutes to prevent it from burning.\u2060<\/p>\n
5. Remove the lid and let the mixture simmer over a low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes until you get a thick sauce. Stir in the lime juice and taste for seasoning \u2013 add more salt if needed. Serve hot over rice with whichever accompaniments you want!\u2060<\/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":193849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-193848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}