Flattened, tenderized strips of prime lamb or beef ('pasanda' means the favored cut) marinated in yogurt and grilled or pan-seared. The pounding is the technique: it turns a lean cut into something as soft as a minced kebab.
Also known as: pasande, pasanday, pasanda kabab, پسندے
Watch it made
Ingredients
- 600 g lamb or beef topside, cut into wide strips
- 150 g yogurt
- 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 0.5 tsp garam masala
- 30 g ghee, for basting
- 1.25 tsp salt
- 15 ml lemon juice
- rumali roti and onion rings, to serve
How to make it
- 1
Batten each strip with a mallet to an even 5 mm from edge to edge.
- 2
Slather in the spiced yogurt with salt and marinate 4 h.
- 3
Ripple the strips onto skewers in loose folds, or lay them flat on a searing tawa.
- 4
Cook 2-3 min per side over high heat, basting with ghee, until the folds catch dark at their peaks.
- 5
Rest briefly, hit with lemon, and serve wrapped in rumali roti.
Pro tip: Pasanda lives or dies by the flattening; an evenly pounded strip cooks in one wave, while a wedge-shaped one is leather at the thin end before the thick end is done.
