Winter-time with its short days and long, dark and cold nights makes even the strongest-willed health nut want to hunker down under a blanket with a big bowl of warm, comforting food, never to emerge again. Unfortunately, life doesn’t stop just because it’s winter. We still have to go to work, get things done, and waistlines (sadly) don’t put expansion on hold for the duration.

But there’s no need to force yourself through plates of cold salad on a freezing day. Here are some ideas for dishes that will warm you to your core and chase away the winter blues, while nourishing your body at the same time.

1. Curries
Curries, with their kick of spicy heat, are the ultimate warming food. To keep things healthy, avoid creamy curries like butter chicken and meat-based curries like rogan josh. Instead, focus on tomato- or tamarind-based curries made with lean cuts of meat such as chicken breast or beef strips. Bulk your curries up with lots of vegetables; winter veg like butternut, sweet potato, pumpkin and cauliflower are all great examples. Try giving the meat a skip once in a while, substituting it with chickpeas or lentils for a hearty vegetarian meal. Avoid serving buttery naan bread or rotis with the curry. Instead, serve steamed brown basmati rice, which has the same delicious aroma as white basmati rice but double the nutritional value. Make your own raitas and sambals alongside the curry instead of serving bottled chutney, which is heavy on sugar. (Try this light massaman curry with chicken breasts, sweetcorn, basil and low-fat coconut milk, or this sugar bean curry – without the white bread.)

2. Stews
Stews are a winter staple, but they don’t have to be heavy. A good way to lighten them up is to think of the meat as a seasoning rather than the main ingredient. Include a little bit of meat with punchy flavour, such as smoked bacon or spicy chorizo sausage, and bulk up the rest with beans and vegetables. For example, make a Spanish-themed stew with a flavour base of chorizo, onions and garlic, adding little white beans, tomatoes and red peppers for bulk. Or, make a west African-inspired stew with a spicy garlic, chilli, tomato and peanut butter-base, adding butternut, sweet potatoes and chickpeas for bulk.

3. Sides
Once you’ve made your stew, keep it healthy by avoiding traditional buttery mashed potatoes or white rice. Instead, cook up a batch of filling brown rice, wheatberries (stampkoring) or barley. If you really love your mash, try parsnips, turnips or sweet potatoes, and use low-fat yoghurt instead of cream and butter. The tanginess of the yoghurt really adds a special flavour profile to mashed vegetables. (Try the mash in this recipe for grilled salmon.)

4. Soups
It is possible to make a tasty ‘creamed’ vegetable soup without any butter or cream. Simply sauté some onions and any other aromatics you like (carrot, celery, garlic), add vegetables, cover with stock or water, and simmer till the vegetables are cooked through. Add a dash of low-fat milk, purée the soup with a blender, season it and you’re done. Roast the vegetables first to amp up the flavour even more. Instead of cream, add a swirl of fat-free yoghurt, and replace the buttered bread with oven-toasted croutons. Use flavoured bread for an extra flavour punch. (Try this flavoursome carrot and coriander soup or this zingy spiced sweet potato soup with red pepper and lime salsa.)

5. Baked pasta
Instead of cheese- and cream-laden mac ‘n cheese, mix boiled pasta such as fusilli with your favourite tomato-based sauce, and stir through a handful of ricotta. Spread the pasta and sauce evenly in a casserole dish, and top with a little bit of very strongly-flavoured aged Parmesan, and lots of breadcrumbs. Bake the dish in the oven for at about 180°C for half an hour or more, until the breadcrumb topping is golden brown and crunchy.

6. Meat pies
Pies are the ultimate comfort food. But with fatty, slow-cooked cuts in the filling and buttery pastry, they are as calorific as they are delicious. For a lighter everyday version, use either goulash meat, steak strips, or extra lean minced meat, simmered slowly in your favourite tomato sauce, or a sauce made with onions, garlic, red wine and stock. Add lots of cubed carrots, parsnips and turnips, and keep simmering until the vegetables are cooked through. Scoop the meat filling into a casserole dish, top with a mash made from baked or boiled sweet potatoes, fat-free yoghurt, salt and pepper, and bake at 180°C for half an hour or until golden brown.

7. Baked or grilled fruit
A hot dessert is the ultimate treat on a cold night. Avoid the guilt by baking or grilling some winter fruit and serving it alongside honeyed low-fat yoghurt, and a sprinkling of toasted nuts. Apples, pears, quinces, pineapple and guavas all work beautifully grilled or baked, and bananas do very well on a hot grill. Simply slice the fruit, removing any cores but keeping the skin, and roast on tinfoil in a hot oven until the fruit is charred here and there. Alternatively, heat a ridged grill until very hot and place sliced fruit on the grill for a few minutes each side. There’s no need to add any sugar – baking and grilling brings out the fruit’s natural sweetness – but tossing the fruit in a little liqueur is never a bad idea. Herbs such as thyme or rosemary and spices such as cinnamon and cloves also work really well. If you want to be fancy, soak dried fruit in port or sweet wine, drain and toss with fresh fruit, then bake or grill as usual. (Try these slightly sweeter vanilla and white wine poached pears.)

By Emma-Kate Coultas (née Liebenberg)