Nothing sweet about it

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Whenever we think of pudding, visions of gooey chocolate sauce, golden custard and bread dotted with raisins come to the mind. For most of us, puddings are always associated with desserts. There are however, savoury puddings that are as popular as the sweet ones, especially in England.

Yorkshire Pudding
No Sunday dinner in the UK is complete without Yorkshire pudding. It is traditionally served with the Sunday roast and the fat drippings from the roast form an integral part of it. Of course, its texture is not that of a pudding at all and is somewhere in between a soufflé and a puff. The batter is like a very thin pancake batter, which one pours into a hot casserole dish over drippings from roast beef or prime rib. While it initially puffs in the oven, it collapses once taken out. That, however, is normal.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 tbsp melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
2-4 tbsp of roast drippings (if you have not made a roast for the meal, use butter)

Method
Preheat an oven to 220°C.
Sift the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the milk, melted butter, and eggs and beat until the batter is smooth without any lumps. Leave aside for an hour.
Add roast drippings (or butter) to a 9x12-inch ovenproof casserole dish, coating the bottom of the dish. Heat the dish in the oven for 10 minutes.
You can also use a muffin pan to make individual puddings. Spoon some dripping into each muffin dish and place in the oven for a few minutes.
Remove the pan (or the muffin tray) from the oven and carefully pour the batter into it (fill only till 1/3 if using a muffin tray) and immediately return to the oven. Cook for 15 minutes before reducing to heat to 180°C and cooking for 15 to 20 minutes more till the pudding is golden and puffed up. Serve hot.
Pease Pudding
What initially started as a thick pea porridge, transformed into the popular Pease Pudding over the last century or so. It is ideally served with rashers of bacon on the side.

Ingredients
450g split peas, pre soaked
Salt and pepper
Bouquet Garni (tie a small bunch of different fresh herbs to make this)
Water
1 medium onion, quartered
50 gms butter
2 eggs

Method
Cook the soaked peas in a heavy-bottomed pan with water, salt and pepper, the herbs and the quartered onion. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer gently for around two hours, adding more water if necessary.
Strain excess water and discard the herbs and onion. Pass the peas through a sieve or beat hard to break them up. Beat in the egg and butter and season well. Put the peas in a greased heat proof pudding basin, cover with foil and steam for 1 hour. Serve hot with bacon rashers.