In everyone's career, there is a moment that shapes the future path and brings fame and money. It results from cumulative hard work, patience, and sincerity combined with an opportunity. All one needs to do is wait for it and grab it when it falls into place. For Padam Shri Chef Sanjeev Kapoor , that moment came in the lobby of the Centaur Hotel in Juhu. Scroll down to read what exactly happened.



Sanjeev Kapoor met Hansal Mehta

According to an interview with Pinkvilla, film director Hansal Mehta met chef Sanjeev Kapoor in the lobby of Centaur Hotel in Juhu in the early ’90s while looking for a face for a new cookery show for Zee TV.



The making of Shaam Savera by Chef Sanjeev






The team at Zee TV rejected him repeatedly for 8-10 weeks. One day, when the show was on the verge of closing because they couldn't find a face that appealed to the masses, Hansal called Sanjeev Kapoor. He said, "Palak hai, paneer hai, chicken, tamatar, pyaaz… show band ho raha hai. Last shoot hai. Tu kuch karke jaa." And that's when chef Sanjeev created Shaam Savera, a spinach-paneer kofta dish in makhani sauce and the history was created.



According to the interview, a full mail pack arrived, and all the letters were for Sanjeev Kapoor. That dish became a nationwide rage. Sanjeev had to cook it wherever he travelled, even for the Prime Minister and foreign dignitaries.



Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's moment of stardom and recognitionFor Sanjeev Kapoor, it was the beginning of a new chapter in his life as a chef. In the second episode of his social media video series Kahaani Khazana, he shared the story of Shaam Savera, a dish that gave him his first television break and made him a household name. It is a series where Chef Sanjeev tells stories he has never told before. He recalls, "I started a new TV show. I was travelling in Cairns, Australia and I heard a small child's voice from behind: 'Mummy, mummy, Shyam Savera uncle.'" That's when I realised how famous Shyam Savera had become."



He adds, "Shaam Savera is the recipe that I made for the first time on TV. And it was created just like that."



He confesses, "Because I just had to look at the ingredients. I was not prepared for it. I wasn't supposed to be in that episode, so I was just creating it on the go."



In no time, the dish was ready and back then, Chef Sanjeev never knew the recipe would become so big.



Chef Sanjeev's tribute to every Indian

In the video, he mentioned that while many people tell him he should patent it, his take and connection with the dish go beyond the transactional world. He emotes, "According to me, right now, Shaam Savera is being sold in more than 5,000 restaurants in the world. I want Shyam Savera to be sold in not just 5,000, but in 500,000 restaurants."



He concludes, "Shaam Savera is not my recipe, it's India's recipe. It's a recipe that I dedicate to not just India, but to every Indian."