WINTER WARMERS

As the temperature dips, Emily Price highlights the power of comfort food and shares recipes that rank high in taste and feature familiar flavours

Snow-capped hills and sunlight glinting on a frozen lake; woolly hats and gloves; steaming bowls of soup and the promise of hot chocolate topped with clouds of cream. The weather in the UAE is just about perfect right now, but as the festive season rolls around, many of us still dream of a chilly December and all that comes with it. If you too are struggling to embrace that winter feeling and want to summon up a little seasonal spirit, the quickest, easiest and most delicious way to do so is by hunkering down with a big batch of comfort food. And if you really want to get your cosy on, that food should be hearty, home-made and include the sorts of dishes that will warm you from the inside out.

No matter the cuisine, comfort-food dishes share a number of traits: they’re soothing, easy to eat, robust and filling, and they feature familiar flavours that are by no means bland, but certainly aren’t taxing on the palate. So whether your go-to dish when you need to feel soothed is South African bobotie, North Indian dal, traditional British pie and mash, slow-cooked Korean beef short ribs or a classic French tartiflette, stick with it. This is no time for culinary experimentation, refined presentation or dainty portions.

In the quest to achieve a peak state of snugness, though, it’s not only about the food. You’ll need to pay attention to your surroundings as well – which brings us to the now familiar Danish concept of hygge. Meik Wiking, chief executive of Copenhagen think tank The Happiness Research Institute and bestselling author of The Little Book of

Hygge, says that while the concept is a state of mind that’s often associated with cold weather, it’s still perfectly possible for those us living in the desert to embrace the idea and turn our homes into a seasonal sanctuary.

“Candles and blankets, friends, food, talking, familiarity – all of these things are hygge. The key is that nothing should feel pressured, forced or too controlled,” Wiking explains. His suggestions for embracing hygge in the UAE include stargazing and a trip to an outdoor cinema, but his sure-fire tip for the wintry feeling that many of us crave is to go back to basics and build a bonfire: “A fire is definitely part of the hygge equation – it creates a sense of relaxed togetherness, with no need to keep the conversation going because you have the sound of the flames,” he says. Once those flames die down, Wiking recommends cooking snobrod (Danish bonfire bread or twistbread) over the embers. “Find a suitable straight stick and clear the bark off the end so it will hold the bread. Wrap the bread tightly around the stick and place it over the glowing embers. Now imagine: people are gathered around the fire, in a close circle that opens out a little as the smoke changes direction. Your eyes may hurt from the smoke, your hand may hurt from being close to the fire, your bread is turning black on the outside, yet remaining unbaked inside. But it still doesn’t get any more hygge than this.”

If that sounds like an idea you fancy, Wiking’s recipe for snobrod follows, as do two other dishes that have comfort at their core and should send you snowballing in the direction of a winter wonderland.

If you really want to get your cosy on, your comfort food should be hearty and it should warm you from the inside out