Shaam Savera (Palak Paneer Kofta)
Shaam Savera is a creamy Kofta curry which is a signature recipe of our Master Chef Mr Sanjeev Kapoor. The koftas are made from palak & paneer and then served with tomato base gravy. Here in this recipe I have done slight modification to the gravy. It's one of the best and restaurant style curry. Lots of full fat cream goes into the gravy and hence it's a rich and creamy curry. The koftas are delicate and hence serve them with gravy and don't add to the boiling hot gravy.
Making of these koftas are bit delicate process as you need to be careful while preparing this. Palak is one of my favorite leafy vegetable. It's full of fiber, vitamins and minerals. It's one of the super-food and you must include one portion of palak or spinach in your daily diet. Paneer is again one of the protein rich food. More over this is a healthy food with all good food ingredients. Since we are not using potatoes here to bind, it's also great food for diabetic patient.
While making this dish, more spinach is required. I took 2 large bunch of leaves and that gave me around 8 - 10 koftas. Since the paneer balls are covered with spinach leaves, you have to be careful while making the kofta balls and frying them. This is a time consuming process.
Generally green leafy veggies have more water content. so while preparing the spinach mixture you need to take extra care to see that they are dry enough. Else it will be difficult to bind them as we are not using potatoes. We are using gram flour and bread crumbs for binding the leaves. All you need to do is blanch the leaves for not more than 2 minutes. Squeeze it dry as much as possible. Then saute with garlic, and gram flour. Cool it completely. Then if you feel the mixture is not very tight then you can also add bread crumbs into it. Make small disc and place paneer ball and cover from all sides carefully so that it will not crack and open while frying. So don't hurry while making kofta and be attentive.
Read other kofta recipes on our blog like Lauki Kofta, Malai Kofta, Coconut Kofta.
Lets make the koftas and Shaam Savera Curry.
Shaam Savera (Palak Paneer Kofta)
Ingredients
For Kofta Balls
- 2 large bunch Spinach leaves
- 200 gms Paneer
- 4 tbsp Besan
- 10 Garlic pods
- 1 Green Chilli
- 1 + 1 pinch Salt for paneer stuffing and for spinach mixture
- 1 tsp Caraway seeds/ cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
- 2 tbsp bread crumbs
For Gravy
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 4 Cardamom (green)
- 10 Garlic pods
- 1 medium/large Onion
- 3- 4 Large Tomato
- 1 Green Chilli
- 1/2 cup Cream + 2 tsp for garnish
- 1 tsp Red chilli power
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Kasuri Methi
Instructions
Making Mixture of palak & paneer for Kofta Balls
- Blanch spinach leaves for 2 minutes. Then immediately transfer the leaves to ice cold water to stop further cooking.
- Once cold remove from water and squeeze out to remove excess water as much as possible.
- Chop the leaves.
- Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. add caraway seeds/ cumin seeds. add finely chopped garlic and green chillies. saute till garlic turns light brown and fragrant.
- Add gram flour to the pan and saute till it changes colour.
- Add chopped leaves, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and a pinch of salt. saute for 2 - 3 minutes till its dry enough.
- Remove from heat and transfer the content to another vessel and cool it completely.
- Add bread crumbs. Mix it completely and divide into equal parts and roll them to a ball.
- Grate the paneer finely. add a pinch of salt and a pinch of cardamom powder. Mix them well.
- Divide the paneer mixture and press tightly making small balls.
- Now paneer balls and spinach balls are ready.
Making Kofta Balls
- Greese your palms. take spinach/ palak roll and flatten it from all end by pressing lightly and making disc.
- Place the paneer ball on the disc and cover it from all ends making a ball. gently roll it on light hand on greesed palms.
- Make sure no crack on the surface.
- Roll the balls on a layer of corn flour. Take out from flour and remove excess flour gently from the kofta balls.
- Deep fry them. Don't over crowd the pan. make it in a batch of 4. But first check with 1 kofta if it perfectly comes out then repeat for rest kofta.
- Else add some more bread crumbs to make it more tight and then repeat the process of making stuffed balls.
- Remove from oil and keep aside for serving.
Making of Gravy
- Blend onion, tomatoes, garlic and green chilli in a mixing jar.
- Heat oil in a pan or kadai. Add cumin seeds, cardamom seeds, garlic chopped. Then add red chilli powder and turmeric powder.
- Saute for 10 - 15 seconds. then add onion and tomato paste to the pan. Mix well. Cook for 5 minutes or till onion paste is cooked completely and leaves oil.
- Add 1/2 cup water and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Then add cream to the pan. mix well. let it simmer for sometime.
- Add salt and crushed kasurimethi. Mix them well.
- Cook on medium flame till required consistency of gravy. then remove from heat. Serve with fried koftas.
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