On the train back from Cornwall this week I was wondering what to do with the hog's pudding I had purchased on the campsite. The obvious thing would be to use it in a cooked breakfast. However, just as many people have tried using black pudding in salads or starters it occured to me that white pudding or hog's pudding could be used that way too. I had never heard of hog's pudding until a year ago but it seems to be Cornwall and Devon's answer to the white pudding of Scotland and Ireland.

There are some important differences. The label on my hog's pudding above says

Pork 70%, wheatflower (sic), rusk, raising agent, E503, spices, flavourings, herbs, chilli powder

no white pudding would have anything like that amount of pork and would probably be more like 70% oatmeal or barley. Oats were not mentioned but rusk is used  in the above ingredients list. Some articles I have seen on hog's pudding refer to the use of oatmeal or barley groats. Apparently the spices used differ from Cornwall to Devon - according to Sausagelinks the Cornish seasoning is pepper, nutmeg, thyme and parsley and coriander while the Devon seasoning is mace, nutmeg, thyme and cayenne.

I thought it would be fun to make a salad that brought out the pork and chilli tastes and complement them with citrus, basil and spices.

Serves 2

Ingredients

200 g hog's pudding
4 rashers streaky bacon
60 g salad leaves with a robust taste (used wild rocket and 'italian leaves')
1 red onion
1 green chilli
5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
one lime
3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp onion seed
salt
pepper

Method

1. Roughly chop the red onion and finely chop garlic & chilli and fry gently
2. Slice hog's pudding into slices (about 5 mm thick) and put on a tray under the grill with the bacon until hog's pudding is brown and bacon is crisp

3. Once onions are softening add the fennel and onion seed
4. Toss together the leaves, tomato and spring onions
5. Heat the lime juice and olive oil (seasoned with salt and pepper) in a pan
6. Place the hog's pudding, bacon, onions and chilli on the mixed salad
7. Add the hot lime/oil dressing and serve

I am hoping that my flight on Friday will take off after two sumptious buffets in two days.

Yesterday the manager of our India team invited the Hyderabad team and me for a buffet lunch at the Kakatiya Hotel - one where I had great southern and northern Indian food a year ago. The selection of southern Indian food was quite amazing and even by taking small portions (and resisting the temptation to try every single dish) you ended up with massive platefuls.

Tonight we have done the same with the Bangalore team and went out to the buffet at the Taj Residency hotel. Outside sheltered from the monsoon rains by a canopy was a starter buffet. Quite frankly it would have done me as a main course.

There was a vegetarian buffet including some delicate filo pastry shells that were used for serving. This is not a great shot, but when the chefs saw my camera they all lined up without being asked!

Further down the line, there was a hotplate for grilling vegetables. In the right background are a set of bowls with spices, chopped garlic, etc which were heated on the plate. Then a mixture of vegetables was added to the spices. Finally a spoon of the red sauce on the left was added and the mix was stir fried for a short time.

Next was a grill with marinated fish, lamb and chicken. The marinades were spicy but not OTT. The lamb was absolutely tender and must have been younger than the sort we eat in the UK.  I did not even try to look at the fourth section as I already had too much on my plate.

Since I was hosting the dinner, I could not spend the evening taking photos for this blog and neglect my guests. Suffice to say there was a huge range of salads, curries and breads for the main course, plus fresh fruit and indian desserts.

It came to Rs 11,000 (£127) for 9 people.

I was in Hyderabad earlier this week and a friend invited me home for dinner. He knew that I liked dosas and asked his wife to prepare some - even though it is more of a breakfast dish.

It was interesting to see how they are done at home

The dosas are made in a flat frying pan with a very shallow rim. The batter - if I understood correctly - is made from rice, a fine white skinned lentil and water. The pan has to be very hot.

After the batter is ladled it spreads out - much like a crepe - and is left to fry.

After a while the dosa hardens onto the pan and is then flipped for a short time before serving.

The dosa was served with a paste/chutney based on peanuts. Earlier in my hotel I had seen pastes made from curry leaves, ginger and mint which were served as condiments.

My colleague had prepared a condiment from gongura which is a leaf I have not previously heard of. However it seems to be popular in Andhra Pradesh.