Cooking classes in South India

After a backwaters tour in Kerala I had the opportunity to sign up for a few cooking classes. Being south and on the sea, fish and coconut feature heavily in their dishes - and to date I had had a few fish curries but nothing particularly mind blowing. I figured signing up for cooking courses might help me understand the ingredients and methods a bit better.

There were two providers in Cochin, Leelu and Nimmy (www.nimmypaul.com), so I decided to throw caution to the wind and sign up for both. Leelu also runs a homestay and so I stayed there for a few days as well.

Leelu is a woman of large stature who has a bit of a queen bee presence about her. On checking in I casually mentioned that I was doing two courses, hers that evening and Nimmy's the following day. All of a sudden she bombarded me with questions about how much and how long and what Nimmy is going to cook and might I tell Leelu how their classes are different. The line of questioning had a touch of the petty and jealous about it, really.

Leelu's class was ok but a bit on the disappointing side. She 'demonstrated' 4 recipes, which is to say her servant did the cooking and she sat on a stool telling us what he was doing - so I have no idea of her actual cooking ability. The pumpkin coconut curry I could leave, but I will say that the red fish curry was excellent.

The next day I took an autorickshaw to Nimmy Paul's home a few suburbs away. She and her husband (Mr Paul...never got his first name) greeted me and we sat with the other class participant, Anthony from Vancouver, in their elegant living room for 30 minutes having a chat. The couple was absolutely delightful and it quickly became apparent that Nimmy was a minor celebrity chef in India, with accolades from Charmaine Solomon, the New York Times and various other people I had heard of.

And her food was spectacular.

We had 14 courses over 2 meals and 10 hours, with naptime in between. Fish, chicken, vegetables, biryani, dessert...vessels for some of the most amazing flavours I've tasted on my trip. (Sadly nearly all involve curry leaves which are scarce in Iowa). Everything was seasoned perfectly with Nimmy's expert palate. Without a doubt one of the best meals I have had in 9 months, next to osso bucco in Milan and Peking Duck in Beijing!

Over dinner we chatted and she discovered I had taken Leelu's course the previous night - enter round two of interrogation on what is her course like, how much does she charge, how are they different, what did she cook, was it good.

I tried to answer as coyly and tactfully as I could but....Diplomacy is exhausting (which is why I often choose to forgo it altogether).