Saanjh Savera

Saanjh Savere is a signature recipe from the famous chef Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor. I was greatly inspired by this and tried to make the same with slight variations for ease of cooking. So let's try it -

Ingredients

• Spinach Leaves – ½ kg (cleaned and stems removed)
• Paneer (Cottage Cheese) – 200 gm (finely grated)
• Tomatoes - chopped 1 bowl
• Onion – chopped 1 bowl
• Gram flour (Besan) – 2 tablespoons
• Maize flour (makke ka aata) – 2 tablespoons
• Corn flour – 1 tablespoon
• Green chili – finely chopped – 1 teaspoon
• Ginger – finely grated – 1 tea spoon
• Garlic – finely chopped – 1 tea spoon
• Whole Garam Masala (2 Green Cardamom, 1 black cardamom, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, 2 cloves)
• Cumin seeds (Jeera Whole) – 1 tea spoon
• Cream – ½ cup
• Dry fruits powder (Cashew powder, Almond powder, 1 tablespoon each)
• Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
• Red Chili powder – 1 teaspoon
• Garam masala powder – 1 teaspoon
• Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
• Salt – 1 teaspoon 
• Butter – 2 tablespoons
• Oil – for deep frying - ½ cup
• Milk – ½ cup
• Kasoori methi –  1 teaspoon

Method:

• Boil and strain spinach and keep aside to cool and drain away all water
• Make paste once it has cooled down. (Don’t add any water while making paste). It should be thick paste

• In an open pan - heat 1 tablespoon oil, add a pinch of whole jeera (Cumin seeds), 1 tablespoon chopped onion, ginger and garlic and saute for 2 minutes

• Add spinach leaves paste to it and roast it
• Add gram flour (besan) and maize flour – mix properly 
• Add a pinch of jeera powder, garam masala powder, salt

• Keep mixing in the pan, till all the water from spinach paste has dried and it becomes a dough

• Take it out of the pan and keep it aside to cool down. Keep it covered with lid, so it doesn’t dry out
• Put the grated paneer in a separate bowl, add chopped ginger, garlic, coriander leaves, salt and 1 pinch of garam masala.

• Mix these together with band and make small balls

• Now take the spinach-flour dough and make it in shape of small bowls and fill with the paneer balls and close completely from all sides
• Do this for all the spinach-flour and paneer – should make around 10 stuffed balls with this quantity of ingredients

• In a deep fry pan, heat oil 
• Roll the stuffed balls on corn flour and deep fry in the pan, till light brown 

• Keep these fried spinach-paneer stuffed balls aside, while we prepare the gravy

For preparation of gravy

• In a shallow pan, heat oil add – chopped ginger, garlic, onions and whole garam masala and roast properly

• Add ½ cup milk and cover with lid for 5 minutes
• Remove from flame and keep aside to cool down. 
• Once it’s cooled down, make a paste in mixer-grinder
• In a shallow pan, add 2 tablespoon butter, a pinch of whole jeera and add the paste we just prepared.
• Add turmeric, garam masala powder, red chilli powder, salt and mix the dry fruits powder and ½ cup water - cook for 5 minutes on low flame
• Add kasoori methi and mix properly and leave on low flame for 10 minutes. Once the gravy is cooked properly, add cream to it.

• Turn off the heating /flame and remove the pan from heat. The gravy is ready

Serving

• At the time of serving, take the fried spinach-paneer balls and cut each ball in two halves

• In a serving bowl -put the gravy and the half-cut spinach -paneer-balls. 
• Garnish with cream and serve.