Ten warming recipes from around the world to keep you smiling

By Elizabeth Burke, producer, The Food Programme

While the wintry weather refuses to yield to the advances of spring, it seems many of us are treating ourselves to a helping or three of comfort food to help lift the gloom. For The Food Programme, we asked Radio 4 listeners for their favourite cold-weather grub and they offered hundreds of tempting suggestions. Here are ten of the best to keep you chipper:

1. Feijoada – black bean and meat stew

Dionizio Geo from Northern Brazil adores black bean stew, a hearty casserole with chorizo, pork ribs and pork shoulder.

2. Dushbara and Qutab – dumplings with meat or vegetables

The prize for most unusual suggestion must surely go to Hamid Huseynov who lives in Baku. He shouts out for “Dushbara" and "Qutab" – and adds the tease: “Taste it in case you come to Azerbaijan in winter.” In case you do, here’s the rough idea:

Dushbara are dumplings filled with meat and spices. Make a dough from wheat flour, egg and water – mix a paste and knead it until it gets to the consistency of pasta dough, adding egg until you can roll it out. Cut it into small squares.

For the filling, fry chopped onions and add ground meat: beef, mutton or chicken. Season with pepper, salt and thyme. Put a dollop of meat onto each square and pinch the parcel into a triangle shape. Boil in salty water until they come to the surface. Serve with sprinkled dried mint, alongside a small bowl of vinegar mixed with shredded garlic. Or top with sour cream.

Qutab is a giant version of this, a patty filled with pumpkin and green vegetables.

3. Aligot – a blend of cheese and potatoes

Brendan Quiglan, who lives in Paris, recommends Aligot – a blend of cheese and potatoes from the Pyrenees.

Rick Stein's spicy lentil soup (sambar)

Puree boiled potatoes and beat in butter and double cream before adding the cheese: grated Gruyère, Tomme d’Auvergne or mini-Mozzarella balls. Melt it together until it’s stringy: rich, delicious, thousands of calories – but who cares?

4. Stovies – Scottish stew

Kenny McCausland lives in Wales but recaptures his Scottish childhood with stovies. We asked him for his recipe but apparently we’ve opened a can of worms. Kenny will commit himself this far: “There are many recipes across Scotland... mine would be layers of potatoes and onion thinly sliced interspersed with beef sausages cooked slowly in beef stock till the potatoes soften and the liquid has been absorbed.”

5. Sambar – lentil stew

Amit Tonse – world traveller – recommends spiced lentil stew, a healthy vegetarian option. Click here to try Rick Stein’s sambar recipe from the BBC Food website.

6. Soup

This is the most popular comfort food if Radio 4 listeners are a guide: parsnip, oxtail, tomato, spiced lentil, kale and white bean. And for once, a comfort food that’s not fattening!

7. Roast chicken

Chicken and chicken soup have an iconic place worldwide as comforting foods, especially when you’re ill. Here’s a selection of roast chicken recipes worth trying from the BBC Food website:

For the Food Programme, Sheila Dillon asked a Rabbi about her Jewish Chicken Soup. You too can brew up some “Jewish penicillin” if you follow this recipe: Jewish Chicken Soup by Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner.

8. Home-baked cookies

Donna Wallace from snowy Minnesota recommends home-baked cookies, and there is nothing better than the smell of baking to fill the house and warm the heart of children after school.

American oatmeal cookies are cheap to make and they’re filling and pretty healthy too. The health benefits of oatmeal are huge: it lowers cholesterol and blood sugar.

“This is my American mother’s recipe from the 1950s and I treasure it,’ says Donna. “It’s framed on the wall of my kitchen.”

Cream 1 cup butter and 1 ½ cups brown sugar.
Mix in 2 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, ground cloves and nutmeg.
Mix in 2/3 cup of milk and 3 cups of rolled oats. You can add a cup of raisins or dates, or nuts.
Roll into balls, flatten and bake for about 12 minutes.

9. Unbelievable all-day-long deliciousness

Forget Airbnb – let’s just move in with some of our Radio 4 listeners around the world! Carol Ann Cook from San Diego, CA cooks up a delicious feast at both ends of the day. She makes:
Breakfast: hot oatmeal with raisins, pecans, black berries, a small pat of butter, and a splash of whole milk. And HOT coffee. Lots!
Dinner: hearty, home-made soup and hot crusty bread, fresh out of the oven. Yum!

And it’s not even cold in California…

10. Sausages

After soup, sausages are probably Radio 4 listeners’ favourite.

Caroline Walls from South Shields, who lives in Helsinki, is dreaming of home while she cooks bangers, mash and onion gravy. Helen MacAuley, who lives in Barrow upon Soar recommends her ultimate comfort meal: "Sausages with leek and potato mash, with steamed sweetheart cabbage and roast carrots, served with homemade onion gravy and a cup of tea to wash it down with.” And Terri-Ann Gibbs finds curried sausages bring her extended family back to the nest. “The kids love it and I have orders to ring my step-kids (who no longer live at home with us) so they can come and collect a portion for themselves."