Back from the beach at Kovalam, hidden in the steamy forest by the paddy fields, is the next great TV chef. He just doesn’t know it yet.

The opportunistically-named Lonely Planet Restaurant is owned by charismatic chef Siva, who runs vegetarian cooking lessons throughout the week. The Boyfriend and I, bowled over by the quality of the food we’d tried so far, eagerly signed up to an evening session.

We sat around a makeshift kitchen in the middle of the restaurant, with a handful of Australians, Brits and Canadians. Siva began his lesson with a mandatory handshake, smile and cooking dance from everyone. Yes, a Cooking Dance. Central to the culinary philosophy of this whirlwind chef is that dancing adds more love to your cooking, which simply makes it taste better.

We started with some basics, like a simple masala, which forms the base for all subsequent sauces and lends some instant authenticity to your home-cooked curries. Siva also introduced us to some typical ingredients, and helpfully listed alternatives he knew were available in Europe and America, while we furiously scribbled notes. He also had a hundred tips on selecting good curry leaves, storing spices and everything else you’d normally need an Indian grandma for.

Now in swing of the dance-while-you-cook method, and definitely feeling the love, we each took a turn mixing side dishes, pan-frying dhosas and whipping up a decent lassi, grinning all the time! The food wasn’t bad, but this chef’s real skill was in banishing our inhibitions and making flamboyant TV chefs of us all. About half an hour into our 2 hour lesson, we were turning up the stereo to cook to the bhangra version of the Knightrider theme!

We left the Lonely Planet full of ideas for the greatest Indian feast we would make on our return home, and walked along the beach identifying now familiar smells from the tempting restaurants.

Kerala is foodie heaven. Disco foodie heaven with a smile. What could be more tempting than that?!