Mothering Sunday, a Visit to Lacock and a delicious Veggie Korma!

Hi everyone!  Hope you’re having a great week so far!

For this week’s WIAW party, I’d like to share our eats from last Sunday, which was Mother’s Day here in the UK.  According to the results of a nationwide survey, what most mothers really want on Mothering Sunday is a lie-in and a home-made card.  Well, I can happily report that I got both, so I was one very happy mum indeed! 🙂

Check out what Lil’ L wrote inside the card.  It’s really sweet (and amusing)!  People that know me will laugh at pretty much all the qualities he listed, especially the last one!  The only one I can relate to myself is no 3.  Isn’t it wonderful though that, at the age of 8, our kids still think of us as superstars!  I wonder how long that will last!

Last weekend, M’s parents came to stay, so Mother’s Day was doubly special.  After our lovely lie-ins with cups of tea and coffee, we all opted to have different breakfasts.  Cereals and home-made pecan & maple nut granola for M’s mum and dad, porridge for M, and pancakes for me & Lil’ L.  However, when M saw how nice the the pancakes looked, he decided that he’d like some as well.  Luckily, I’d made a huge batch so we had a couple spare 😉

This Sunday, we had blueberry pancakes (recipe here) made with the new Alpro Almond Milk (delicious!),  topped with organic strawberries, pecan nuts, ground linseed and a drizzle of agave syrup.  Both Waitrose & Tesco are selling organic strawberries half price at the moment and they are super sweet and totally scrummy!

Lil’ L was put out at first when he saw the strawberries on top, but he was willing to give them a try, with the response “I’ll give anything a try if it’s on top of a pancake”.  I must remember this 😉

He ended up eating the whole lot, which is fantastic for this former fruit dodger.  That’s another fruit to cross off the ‘won’t try/don’t like’ list 🙂

After breakfast, we went to visit Lacock, a village in Wiltshire just a few miles from where we live.  This ancient village is a pretty special place, and has the most incredible old houses.

Lacock Village High Street (c) Ian Petticrew

It’s been used as the backdrop for a number of films and TV series, including Cranford and Pride & Prejudice.  Lacock Abbey is also the setting for a number of the interior shots in the Harry Potter films.

Lacock Village (c) Pam Brophy

On Sunday, there were lots of little craft shops open for us to browse, as well as a craft fayre in the village hall.  For lunch, we stopped at the village bakery for a delicious veggie pastie.

Lacock Bakery (c) Jonathan Billinger

We had a lovely afternoon at the village and are planning to return in early summer with M’s parents to visit the Abbey and its grounds.  From the photos I’ve seen on the web, it looks absolutely stunning!

Lacock Abbey (c) Gary Brothwell

For dinner, we had leftovers from Saturday night’s meal, which had been so delicious that we didn’t mind eating it on two consecutive nights.  We had veggie korma, coconut dhal with butternut squash, brown rice, chapattis (made by M!), and mini poppadoms.

The veggie curry was really well received by M’s parents, which was a relief as I often wonder whether M, L and I have different taste buds to people that eat ‘typical’ Western diets.  I think veggie curry is a great dish to serve when you have guests (whether they’re veggie or meat eaters) for these reasons…

  • With the simple addition of chapattis, poppadoms, naan breads, the curry can turn into a delicious feast.
  • Pretty much everyone I know loves curry, and as long as you don’t make it too hot, then it’s fine for the children too.  When Lil’ L was younger, I simply used to roughly blend the veggies so that they were less chunky and blended into the korma sauce.
  • The dishes can be prepared in advance (big advantage in my book as I don’t want to be slaving in the kitchen when we have guests!)  The dishes can even be prepared the day before and simply heated through on the stove.

The veggie korma we made on Saturday included my all-time favourite combination of veggies for curries.  It’s quick and incredibly simple to make.  Here’s the recipe:

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Veggie Korma

Serves: 5-6
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1-2 TBSP korma curry paste (I use Patak’s korma paste)
400 ml / 14 oz  can coconut milk
1 onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
2 medium parsnips, sliced
1 medium courgette (zucchini), sliced
4 white cabbage leaves, chopped
2 handfuls of spinach (or other leafy green), roughly chopped
240 ml / 8 fl oz / 1 cup vegetable stock
80g / 3 oz / ½ cup cashew nuts (or sub with cooked chick peas if you wish)
35g / 1¼ oz / 1/3 cup flaked almonds

Method
Get prepared:
Prepare some brown basmati rice.
Chop the veggies.
Prepare the vegetable stock.

Ready, set, go!
In a large, heavy bottomed pan, mix the curry paste and coconut milk together over a medium-low heat. Add the vegetables (except the spinach) and stock, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or so, until the vegetables are tender. Add the cashews and spinach, and continue cooking until the spinach has wilted. Season, to taste.

Meanwhile toast the flaked almonds in a dry frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat, stirring continuously until lightly browned.

Serve in warm bowls on a bed of rice and a sprinkling of toasted flaked almonds, for garnish.

Any leftover curry can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or for weeks in the freezer.

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For dessert, we had mango hedgehogs 🙂

So that’s what we ate on Mothering Sunday.  We didn’t go out to a restaurant and pay the inflated Mother’s Day prices, but instead we stayed in and ate one of the tastiest Indian meals I’ve ever had 🙂

It’s now time for me to pop over to Jenn’s site and check out all the delicious WIAW entries.  A big thank you to Jenn for hosting this great foodie party and for all the inspiration for new eats.

I’d love some more ideas for dishes to serve for a mix of veggie and non-veggie guests.  I often end up serving veggie lasagna, Mexican burritos/ fajitas/ enchiladas, or veggie curry.  What dishes would you recommend?  I’d love to hear your ideas and please do send links to recipes if you have them.

Happy Wednesday everyone! xx

 

 

20 thoughts on “Mothering Sunday, a Visit to Lacock and a delicious Veggie Korma!

  1. Happy Mother’s Day to one of the best Moms (Mums) I know of! What a fantastic day you had. And some fantastic meals as well! I absolutely love the card from Lil’ L. What a sweetie. Your veggie korma looks much better (and more authentic!) than the last time I tried making it. I’ll have to give your recipe a try for sure.
    The veggie meals I usually make for guests who are not vegetarian are the ones you listed, as well as veggie chili. I have a few different recipes on my blog–a pantry crockpot chili, pumpkin chili, and apple chili.

    1. Thanks Candy! You’re so sweet! 🙂
      I’m definitely going to be checking out your chili recipes. They sound really interesting, and perfect for dinner parties. I’ve never made anything other than a regular style veggie chili, though I do like to add a little cocoa into the mix. Apple chili sounds particularly intriguing!

    1. Korma was my all-time favourite dish to order when we went for an Indian, but I used to end up paying for it, with horrendous cramps and stomach ache for the rest of the night. That was before I realised that I was allergic/intolerant to dairy. I even break out with eczema on my hands as soon as I eat a naan bread, so I’ve given those up too.
      Fortunately, home made veggie korma tastes AMAZING! I even prefer it to the restaurant version, as you can choose to include all your favourite veggies. I’ve tried different combos, but the one I’ve published in this recipe is by far my favourite. If you make it you’ll have to let me know what you think x

    1. Lacock is a really sweet little village. You feel like you’ve stepped back in time as you walk down the high street. All the shops are really old fashioned too!

    1. This veggie korma is really easy to make. The can of coconut milk gives it a wonderful, creamy texture. If you try it, I hope you love it as much as I do!

  2. Oh I love mango and cutting it that way is tons easier than any other method.
    Congrats to Lil’ L for expanding his fruit horizons (and I think I see many more pancakes in his future) and for making such an AWESOME card.
    I actually made pancakes for the family last night and put chia seeds in there. The kids didn’t know they were getting a protein boost and loved the little crunch they provided.
    I have yet to try Indian food but everytime I see a picture of some on your blog I think “I need to try that.” Your dish is just beautiful and completely delicious looking.
    One day it will make it to my plate 🙂
    I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that you have some beautiful weather to spend some time outdoors. We are supposed to have rain so we will be stuck inside.

    1. Great idea about putting chia seeds into pancakes! I’m really into making chocolate chia puddings at the moment. They’re way cheaper than shop-bought chocolate puddings and so much healthier. I always whizz them in the blender to give them a smooth texture, then sweeten them with agave syrup or fruit sweetener and a teaspoon of vanilla or orange extract. Yum!

    1. Last week’s vegetable korma was so delish that I ended up eating it 4 days on the trot and I could have carried on eating it for more days if I hadn’t run out! Talk about curry addiction!

  3. Beautiful village. I can vouch for the veggie pasties form the bakery. Watch out for the Morris Men! And of course the ghost at the Angel Inn. But on balance the Morris Men worry me more than the ghost….

  4. Happy Mother’s Day! The korma looks soo good. I hope you had a lovely weekend, it sounds like it! That village looks very cool, too. I just love looking at old buildings like that!

    1. Thanks Koko! I had a lovely weekend and Mother’s Day ♥ It’s the simple things I love most about Mother’s Day… the home made card and breakfast in bed (they actually made me vegan crepes this year!) I need to cherish it because it won’t be long before my boy is all grown up!

  5. What a sweet card from your son, I expect he still considers you a superstar! Thank you for reminding me about Lacock, it truly is THE most amazingly pretty village, we loved our visit there a few years ago. Did you visit the soap shop at the far end, it sells the most beautiful soap?

    And, your Korma looks delicious! I really need to explore your archives xo

    1. Do you know, I don’t think I’ve been to Lacock since I wrote that post! I’m definitely due another visit and when we go, I’m going to hunt out that soap shop. I’m really into organic essential oil soap bars at the moment and love trying out new brands and scents. Thank you so much for the tip xx
      p.s. My old recipes are bound to show up on Facebook & Twitter at some point in the future as they’re still our faves 😉

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