This traditional Afghan winter dish is made with chickpeas, short-grained rice, and salted, sun-dried mutton called lahndi, all simmered together in an aromatic broth flavored with onions, garlic, turmeric, coriander, and mint. Narenj or bitter orange peel and hot peppers are added towards the end of cooking which makes this sticky rice dish particularly fragrant and quite spicy.

Mastawa can also be prepared with other types of dried meat like the Afghan gosht-e-qaqh, whereas the final touch comes from adding quroot, a type of Afghan cheese made from strained, salted, and dried yogurt - the one ingredient for which there are no proper substitutes.