Beyond Brilliant: Inspired Indian Cooking

Product Information

I do love Indian food, there are always so many different levels of flavour that just makes it so tasty. Tech News Today: iOS 17.2 lets users change notification tone, OnePlus 12 rumoured to launch in India on January 23 and more For such a beautiful and prestigious location, restaurants occupying Somerset House have expectations to fulfill. Chef Dipna Anand's restaurant and bar in the South Wing thus provides interesting colour and flavours to the space currently occupied by coffee shops and dinner spots. Later in the book there is a section on the Brilliant family where Dipna writes about her mother and her brother. Its interesting to read that her mother didn’t know how to cook but with time and practice she now cooks and even says she could teach her husband a few things. Dipna’s brother has been in the restaurant for 10 years as well as working hard in the restaurant he is working on finding new new clients and bringing in new business.

After interviewing Dipna Anand, I learnt that she had published Beyond Brilliant. A great book that features over 40 recipes from the actual kitchens of The Brilliant Restaurant. Its in this section that you learn a bit about basic preparation, how to make a green chilli paste, different ways of cutting/chopping an onion and then toasting and crushing spices. Which colleague, mentor or employer has had the biggest influence on your approach to the hospitality business?​ To showcase my talent to the world and write my two cook-books as well as pass by skills and knowledge on through my cookery school and of course the cookery shows on television for which today I am recognised. I feel truly blessed. Professor David Foskett who was the Dean at The University of West London whilst I was studying there many years ago has been a big influence and inspiration. Professor Foskett was the first person to push me to achieve my goals and reach for those stars. He encouraged me to always go that extra mile and that today is something that has stayed with me and has helped get me to where I am.

Passionate about cooking

I really think these bits of information really add to the recipes of the book as it helps you understand where the passion comes from, passion to me is very important when it comes to food and cooking. Its obvious that Dipna and the entire Brilliant family have a to of love for what they do and passion for Indian food. The book features a nice mixture of recipes ranging from starters, mains, sides and desserts. I love the fact that it features desserts as I personally haven’t seen many recipes for Indian desserts so it would be nice to try and make some. I had some Indian Desserts when I went in 2014 and they are very nice! Each recipe clearly marks what ingredients you need and the method is very clear, helping amateurs to Indian cooking like me to make a nice tasting dish with little worries 🙂 It’s one of the most rewarding and satisfying careers so long as you are passionate and have interest in it. You have to be a people’s person in this industry and have one mindset which is the harder you work, the better it gets. Work from your heart, keep smiling and keep your feet humbly on the ground.

She is Co-Owner of the famous Brilliant Restaurant in Southall and author of the "Beyond Brilliant" cook-book and also runs her very own cookery school. Dipna has an exclusive partnership with Restaurant Associates and Levy (part of the Compass group) for whom she is brand Chef for a Punjabi range of dishes she has created for the company. Her "Dip In" videos which are now available across her social media channels, showcase her delicious recipes proving the secrets of cooking Indian food and innovative recipes can be mastered within minutes and how simple it is to create magic in the kitchen. One thing you can really tell from the book is that the whole Brilliant business is a family business and that family means a great deal to them, which I think its excellent! There is then a final section on the Brilliant Wedding, giving a bit of information on the wedding as well as Dipna’s Involvement in it.

We arrived for brunch around 12:30, and the atmosphere was muted but pleasant, eventually getting livelier later. The waitstaff were kind and knowledgeable, and were more than willing to give suggestions for dishes or drinks. I have never really tried to make any Indian myself, I was always a bit scared to do a curry as I thought they would be very complicated with the wide variety of spices.