Cooking The World: Afghanistan ๐ฆ๐ซ
Thursday, January 08, 2026
The challenge is set, and after considering the possible ways to choose the countries, in order to avoid taste fatigue and have a better control over which country goes next and which one I’ve already done, I decided to go with the simple alphabetical order. That brings us to the first country on the list — and the challenge: Afghanistan.
The Country
Officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, it is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central and South Asia.
Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces, further divided into districts. Kabul is the country’s capital and largest city, and overall it has a population estimated to be between 40 and 50 million people.
Cuisine
Afghan cuisine is mainly based on mutton, beef, and poultry served with rice and Afghan bread. Accompanying these are common vegetables and dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and whey, as well as fresh and dried fruits like apples, apricots, grapes, bananas, oranges, plums, pomegranates, sweet melons, and raisins.
Chosen Dish
For this first country, after researching the most popular dishes, how easy or hard it is to get the ingredients, and whether it contains something I don’t like (that’s why I didn’t choose Kabuli Pulao — even when it’s the national dish, it has raisins, and I don’t like raisins ๐), I decided to go with Mastawa.
Mastawa is a rice dish cooked with lamb, yogurt, chickpeas, and a pinch of spices.
Ingredients
- 700g lamb on the bone, preferably shoulder
- 2-3 medium onions
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 cup short-grain rice
- 500 g natural yoghurt
- 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp of dried dill
- 1 tsp of ground black pepper
- 1 can of chickpeas
- Salt to taste
Getting Ready
Luckily, all the ingredients for this first recipe were not hard to find. I have a meat store near me that can ship to my home, making it super easy to buy the lamb.
Different recipes recommend using either lamb or beef, but lamb is the one used most frequently — and the dish is better known to be made with lamb. For those recipes that do use lamb, they also recommend different cuts; I decided to go with lamb shoulder, on the bone, because it’s supposed to be tastier.
Most recipes use 700 grams (1.54 lb) of meat, but my store only had sealed packages, so I had no choice other than buying one. To my surprise when it arrived, the package was 2.2 kilograms (4.85 lb). Not a problem, but it is way more than I expected. I guess I’ll have to cook more than I planned, just doubling the quantities ¯\_(ใ)_/¯.
As for the spices, such as dried dill and black pepper, and the vegetables, I found them in my local farmer’s market.
With everything ready, it’s now time to get my hands dirty!
Prerequisites
- Wash and soak the chickpeas for at least 3 hours (if using raw/not canned, otherwise you can skip this step).
- Wash and soak the rice for 2 hours.
- If your lamb is not already cut, debone it and cut it into small cubes.
Preparation (The fun part!)
- Add oil to a pot over medium heat.
- Chop the onions and add them to the pot. Fry for about 2 minutes.
- Add the lamb cubes to the pot.
- Chop 3 garlic cloves, add them to the pot, stir, and let everything fry for 3 minutes.
- Add 2 tsp of turmeric, stir, and let it fry for 2 more minutes.
- Add 8 cups of water.
- Add the chickpeas, the ground black pepper, and salt (about 1 tsp is recommended, but adjust as needed), and stir.
- Cover the pot and let it cook on low heat for 1 hour, or until the meat is cooked and tender.
- You’ll know the meat is ready when it can easily come off the bone with your bare hands and little effort. At this point, add the rice and, if necessary, one more cup of water.
- Let it cook for 15 minutes on medium-low heat.
- Add the dill and, if necessary, more salt.
- At this point, you can either add the yogurt and carefully stir, or serve the dish with the yogurt on the side — sprinkled with dill.
The Result
The whole process took me about an hour and 40 minutes because I had to cut the lamb and deal with a minor issue with my stove, but overall it was fast and way easier than I thought.
And this is the final result:
As for the taste? I’ve been to Morocco, and my girlfriend has also been to Morocco and Egypt, so we know what Arabic food tastes like. And I’m happy — and extremely proud — to say that this first dish really does taste Arabic and foreign.
The flavor and texture of the lamb transported us back to our trip, and the smell of the spices was unmistakable. The turmeric, pepper, and dried dill are key to unlocking that Middle Eastern flavor. And while it took one hour for my lamb to be ready, as stated by the recipe I followed, take as long as needed — just make sure your lamb is super soft, because that’s essential for the success of the dish.
This pot will last us for a couple of days because the one I used was big, and definitely used more than 700 g of meat — but that only makes me happier.
What Did I Learn?
Oh boy… I was sure I was going to learn things in this challenge, like new cooking techniques, but I didn’t expect lessons to start appearing from the very first dish — and to be so basic!
I learned how to properly cut and debone lamb, thanks to my girlfriend and her forensic background ๐. Before this, I’d never had the chance to work with lamb or meat on the bone — a skill I’ll most likely use repeatedly during the course of this challenge.
I also learned the importance of soaking chickpeas before cooking so they’re soft, especially since this time I used raw chickpeas instead of wet-canned ones, which I usually go for. If I hadn’t done this, they wouldn’t have been soft and would have degraded the final eating experience.
Another thing I’ve had issues with forever is that I don’t use enough salt. For this recipe, the recommended amount was 1 tablespoon of salt, with more added as necessary… well, it was necessary to add more. Even so, I still had to add salt after plating.
I’ve noticed that I tend to underuse salt — not only with this dish, but pretty much every time I cook. So this has to change from now on. I need to stop being afraid of using salt!
And finally, when cooking with spices: open the windows. I cooked around 7 p.m., and since it was a bit cold, I only had one door open — but it wasn’t enough. My girl and I ended up with a case of excessive sneezing, which was easily solved by ventilating the house ๐๐คง. Better ventilate since the beginning.
This leaves me excited for the rest of the dishes, and I’m only beginning!
Coming up… Albania!
0 comments
I know you have something to say... say it: