Shaam Savera is a signature creation of the world renowned Indian Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. The beauty of it lies in it’s simplicity of ingredients put together, creating a visually appealing dish – like a poetry on a plate. The rich green kofta (shaam) stuffed with paneer (savera) looks beautiful on silky smooth, aromatic orange gravy, as it creates a great visual with it’s play of colors, textures, flavors.
Shaam Savera loosely translates to Dusk & Dawn in english, signifying the contrast of the light and dark colors of the recipe. The various components of the dish are also the popular combinations of North Indian dishes like Palak Paneer, Paneer Makhani, Kofta Curry etc – all in one one dish.
These are spinach balls or kofte, stuffed with paneer/cottage cheese/tofu seasoned with cardamom powder, in a a beautiful silky orange gravy made of onions, tomatoes, and cashews, simmered in aromatic spices.
Sanjeev Kapoor calls it a historic recipe, as according to him, this was the first recipe that he ever made on a television show. He shot to fame over the past so many years and is a household name for millions of families. He is an inspiration behind millions of people who learned how to cook in India. He is one of my inspirations as well. His television shows made cooking so much more interesting and fun!
I have taken the concept from Sanjeev Kapoor’s signature dish, but have changed the recipe per my preference. With all due respect to the legendary Chef, the gravy I have made is completely different than how it is made in the original recipe. The koftas are prepared in similar way as in the original recipe, with a few variations.
Shaam Savera Kofta
Shaam Savera or Dusk & Dawn, as loosely translated in English, is a signature creation of the world renowned Indian Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. The beauty of it lies in it's simplicity of ingredients put together, creating a visually appealing dish. The rich green koftas (shaam) stuffed with paneer (savera) looks beautiful on silky smooth, aromatic orange gravy, as it creates a great visual with it's play of colors, textures, flavors.
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Ingredients
Ingredients for Kofta
- 1 big bag / big bunch Spinach (I used a big bag of baby spinach)
- 5 tablespoons Paneer / Cottage Cheese or Tofu (use tofu for vegan version)
- Salt to taste
- 1 pinch Cardamom powder
- 3-4 tablespoons Besan flour (gram flour)
- ½ inch Ginger, grated
- 1 tablespoon Oil for spinach mixture
- 2 cups Oil for frying
- ¼ teaspoon Garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice (helps retain the green color of spinach)
- 1 tablespoon Corn starch
- 1 quantity Bay leaf
- 2 quantity Cloves
- 1 quantity Black cardamom
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 1 quantity Star anise
- 1 small piece Mace (javitri)
Ingredients for Gravy:
- 1 quantity Bay leaf
- 2 quantity Cloves
- 1 quantity Black cardamom
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 1 quantity Star anise
- 1 quantity Onion, medium sized, chopped
- 2 cups Tomato sauce (can use 3-4 freshly chopped tomatoes instead)
- 2 tablespoons Cashew nuts
- 1 teaspoon Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
- Salt to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon Garam masala
- 3 tablespoons Heavy cream (or any nut cream for vegan version)
- 1 cup Evaporated milk / Milk / Nut milk for vegan version
- 1 teaspoon Honey
- 2 tablespoons Oil
- ½ inch Ginger, grated
- ¼ teaspoon Deggi mirch or any red chili powder (I used deggi mirch)
- 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
Instructions
Recipe for Kofta:
- Blanch spinach. To do so, heat water, once it comes to a boil, add cleaned spinach leaves. Boil it uncovered for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, drain the water and transfer spinach into a bowl of ice cold water. Drain all the water after a few minutes and squeeze the spinach to remove any excess water. Roughly chop the blanched spinach.
- Heat oil in a pan, add the whole spices, saute it for a minute. Add ginger, saute for 30 seconds. Add gram flour. Saute it for 2-3 minutes. Add the blanched spinach, a teaspoon of lemon juice, salt, turmeric powder, garam masala and continue sautéing for a couple of more minutes, until the raw aroma of gram flour goes away. Do not overcook. The final mixture should be semi-dry (not too pasty/not extremely dry). You may use more/less gram flour for getting to this consistency. Once done, remove it on a plate and keep it aside to cool down. Once it is cool, divide into about 10 golf ball sized portions.
- Take paneer in a bowl, add salt and a pinch of cardamom powder, Mix well. Form about 10 marble sized balls.
- Take one of the spinach mixture ball, flatten it between palms, expand it from the sides using fingers, place the paneer ball in between, close the spinach mixture into a ball again, making sure none of the sides are open. When forming this ball, press it gently such that there is no gap between the paneer layer and the spinach layer. This ensures that the koftas don't open up/disintegrate when frying. Roll the kofta into corn starch mixture, and then dust off excess corn starch from the kofta.
- Heat oil for frying. When the oil is hot, gently put a kofta inside. fry it for a couple of minutes on all sides. If the first kofta fries well and doesn't disintegrate, continue frying the rest of the koftas.
- If it does disintegrate, stop the frying process and make sure the koftas are formed and sealed well, and add a bit of corn startch, or roll it further into the corn starch. Continue the frying process. The oil needs to be hot. Once the koftas are ready. Keep it aside.
Recipe for Gravy:
- Soak cashew nuts in water.
- Heat oil. Add the whole spices. Saute for a minute. Add ginger, onion. Saute for 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce, saute for 3 minutes. Add salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder, garam masala. Stir and let it cook for another about 7 minutes on medium heat. Turn off the heat and let it cool down for a few minutes.
- Put the soaked cashews, above gravy into a blender/food processor. Add milk/evaporated milk/nut milk and make the above mixture into a smooth puree. Return it into the pan.
- Turn on the heat, add the above gravy, lemon juice, honey, kasuri methi. At this point, you may add heavy cream / vegan cream if you want. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- To assemble, cut the kofta spheres into two, using a knife. Pour a couple of ladles of gravy in a deep bottomed plate/bowl, arrange the koftas with cut side up. Garnish with heavy cream. Enjoy.
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The rich green koftas (shaam) stuffed with paneer (savera) looks beautiful on silky smooth orange gravy, as it creates a great visual with it’s play of colors, textures, flavors. These koftas are served with a side of roti, naan, or paratha – which are varieties of Indian flat breads.
Shashank Pandya
Amazing! People loved it!
Eat More Art
I am glad you loved the recipe. Thank you for the feedback.
Rain
Even though it was popularized by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, the original creator of the recipe is actually Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi. He created this for Chef Sanjeev kapoor for his show, when he was working for him.
Eat More Art
Thank you for sharing the interesting tid-bit.
Dalexcia Lawrence
I love this recipe. I left out the kofta and only made the gravy, I love it so much it has been my go to for three days now. I add some naan or rice and I am happy.
I’m from Louisiana so my cultural food is very different in taste but the ingredients are very similar
Sonal
Hi Dalexcia,
Thank you so much for your wonderful feedback. I am so glad you liked the recipe. Yes, this gravy is my personal favorite as well and can eat it few days in a row 🙂
Since you liked this gravy, you may like the butter paneer masala recipe too which is also on the blog.