Known for cooking alongside her sister Jasmine, bestselling author, real food activist and sustainability champion Melissa Hemsley is big on celebrating easy and accessible healthy food that everyone can enjoy.

Real Heathy – her latest ‘life-friendly’ volume – is full of easy, full-flavoured and veg-packed meals – all healthier alternatives to the ultra-processed foods many of us want to cut back on.

Fancy an extra helping? Meet Melissa this Tuesday 16 July 2024 at The Yard, Chilton Candover, near Alresford, where she’ll be discussing her new book along with ways to help unprocess our diets.

White Chicken Chilli

A tomato-less chilli, hence the name ‘white chilli’. I use yellow peppers here to keep the chilli ‘white’ but use whatever colour you can find. I like to serve the toppings separately and let everyone help themselves. In terms of the beans, use whatever white beans you like, such as cannellini or butter beans. I find sweetcorn is always worth keeping in the freezer, but if you’ve got tinned sweetcorn, then drain, rinse and add it right at the end.

Feeds 4. Takes 1 hour 10 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 2 tbsp olive oil (plus extra if needed)
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 yellow peppers, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper or chilli flakes, to taste
• 1.2 litres vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 x 400g tins of white beans, drained and rinsed
• 200g frozen sweetcorn
• Juice of 1 lime, plus a little zest if you like
• Sea salt and black pepper

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS

• Soured cream or yoghurt
• Fresh coriander and/or spring onions, sliced
• Sliced avocado Sliced radishes or cucumber Lime wedges
• Jarred jalapeño slices or chilli flakes

METHOD

Season the chicken thighs on both sides with salt. Heat the olive oil in a large pot and, once warm, add the chicken thighs, skin-side down.

Cook for 10–12 minutes over a medium-high heat until very well browned, then turn and cook on the other side for 2–3 minutes. Lift out of the pot and set aside on a large plate. The chicken should have given out plenty of fat but if not, add a splash of olive oil to the pot and, once warm, add the onions, peppers and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Fry for about 12 minutes over a medium heat until very soft, stirring every so often. Add the garlic, fry for a minute, then add the cumin, oregano and cayenne or chilli flakes and fry for 2 minutes, stirring regularly. Return the chicken thighs to the pot and pour in the stock. Simmer for 25 minutes, then add the beans and continue to cook for another 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken thighs once cooked through and take the meat off the bones and shred. Set aside, discarding the chicken skin if you wish. Use a potato masher or the back of your wooden spoon to crush roughly a third of the beans (this will help thicken the chilli). Add the frozen sweetcorn, then cook for 5 minutes or so until tender. Remove from the heat, add the chicken, lime juice, plus a little zest if you like, and taste for seasoning.

Ladle into bowls and finish with the toppings you like.

Five-minute Berry Fro-Yo

Fro-yo is frozen yoghurt. If you haven’t come across this speedy treat yet, it’s best enjoyed straight away as the texture will be at its best straight from the food processor and it firms up a lot in the freezer. Make sure to use a food processor here rather than a blender because a blender overmixes, meaning the mixture becomes too runny. My favourite toppings to shout out are tahini, chopped pistachios and/or flaked almonds.

Feeds 6–8 Takes 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 300g frozen berries or frozen (pitted) cherries
• 150g thick yoghurt or your favourite plant-based option
• 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• Little pinch of sea salt

METHOD

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until just combined, scraping down the sides once or twice as needed. Be very careful not to overmix, otherwise it will turn runny. Serve immediately with any toppings that you like.

Extracted from Real Healthy by Melissa Hemsley (Ebury Press, £26). Photography by Lizzie Mayson.