Pasanda

Pasanda is documented in the Mughal court from at least the 16th century, when sliced thigh meat — beaten flat, marinated in yogurt and spices, then braised in an enriched sauce — was recorded as a preferred preparation of royalty. Its name derives from the Persian pasandideh (liked) and Urdu pasande (favourite cut), both reflecting the dish's association with prime meat and imperial taste. A similar method of sliced, marinated, and sauce-braised meat appears in the 12th-century Sanskrit compendium Manasollasa, indicating deep pre-Mughal precedent. The Kayastha community — administrators to the Mughal court — preserved the dish across generations of court culture, and it later entered British Indian restaurant menus as a mild cream-enriched curry, diverging from its richer Mughal original.

Silky-tender lamb in a warm, faintly sweet sauce—the almond paste rounds out the yogurt's tang, cream softens the spice, and each escalope yields at the slightest pressure of a fork.

Physical pounding with a mallet severs long muscle fibres and disrupts connective tissue, shortening the braising time needed for collagen-to-gelatin conversion. Yogurt's lactic acid gently denatures the outermost proteins over the marinade period without toughening the meat surface, and carries aromatics deep into the loosened fibre matrix. Ground almond paste stirred into the braising liquid provides emulsified plant proteins and fats that thicken the sauce without a flour roux; the almonds' natural emulsifiers keep fat droplets evenly distributed throughout the gravy. Cream added off-heat contributes milkfat to produce the sauce's characteristic satin texture. Braising at a sustained simmer of 85–90 °C completes the hydrolysis of remaining collagen, yielding a silky, falling-apart tenderness.