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Shuwa

Name: Shuwa
Total time: 240 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Oman
Ingredients: 1.2kg (bone-in shoulder) Lamb; 6 cloves Garlic; 3 Red Chili Pepper; 2 tsp Cumin powder; 2 tsp Ground Coriander; 1 tsp Cardamom powder; 4 pods Clove; 1 tsp Cinnamon powder; 1/2 tsp Turmeric; 3 tbsp Vinegar; 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil; 2 tsp Salt; 2 cups Rice

Main Dish

⏱ 240 min

👥 Serves 6

Difficulty ⭐⭐⭐

Spice-rubbed lamb wrapped in leaves and slow-roasted in an underground pit for over a day — Oman's festive dish.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Shuwa is Oman's most important festive dish, made during Eid. Lamb or goat rubbed with a paste of red chili, garlic, cumin, coriander, and other spices is wrapped in banana or palm leaves and placed in the village's communal sand pit to slow-roast for one to two days. The meat, falling apart, is eaten with spiced rice.

🌆 Where it's eaten: On Eid morning, a smoking bundle is dug out of a sandy pit in an Omani village as the men share the meat among every family.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 6)

Lamb 1.2kg (bone-in shoulder)
Garlic 6 cloves
Red Chili Pepper 3
Cumin powder 2 tsp
Ground Coriander 2 tsp
Cardamom powder 1 tsp
Clove 4 pods
Cinnamon powder 1 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Vinegar 3 tbsp
Vegetable Oil 3 tbsp
Salt 2 tsp
Rice 2 cups

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Grind the garlic, chili, spices, vinegar, oil, and salt into a paste.
Cut deep slashes into the lamb, rub with the paste, and marinate in the fridge overnight.
Wrap tightly in a double layer of foil and place on a baking tray.
Roast at 150°C for 4 hours until the meat falls off the bone.
Cook the rice, drizzle with a little of the roasting juices, and serve with the meat.

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