Ingredients

• Lamb & marinade
• 2½ kg bone-in lamb shoulder
• 1 medium onion, quartered · ½ cup olive oil
• 1½ tsp each: cumin, turmeric, coriander · 1 tsp each: cinnamon, cardamom
• 1½ tsp black pepper · 5 tsp salt
• The bed
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled · 2 onions, sliced · 12 small potatoes, halved
• 10 cardamom pods · 10 bay leaves · 1 cinnamon stick · 7 cloves
• 3 tbsp olive oil · 1½ tsp salt · 2 cups water

Method

1. Blend the onion, oil and spices to a thick paste.
2. Cut deep slits in the lamb and massage the paste in everywhere; marinate overnight if you can, 4 hours minimum.
3. Layer the garlic, onions, potatoes and whole spices in a deep roasting dish; set the lamb on top and add the water.
4. Seal completely — parchment pressed onto the meat, then two or three layers of foil. The seal is the buried-oven trick.
5. Roast at 350°F about 4 hours, until the meat surrenders off the bone.
6. Uncover, baste with the drippings, and broil a few minutes for color. Serve over rice cooked in the drippings, with daqoos.