Suya

Story

Suya (also known by its original Hausa name tsire) originated among the Hausa-Fulani pastoralist communities of northern Nigeria, where herders and butchers known as mai suya developed the technique of thinly slicing lean, fibrous beef from their cattle, coating it in a dry spice rub and grilling it slowly over charcoal as a way of making tough cuts flavourful, portable and storable. The spice blend at the heart of suya is called yaji, a Hausa word, and its foundation is kuli-kuli, the pressed cake of roasted groundnuts left after oil extraction; grinding kuli-kuli rather than fresh peanuts is what traditional mai suya prefer, because fresh groundnuts contain too much free oil and prevent the spice crust from forming properly. By the 1950s, suya had migrated south to Lagos, Ibadan and Port Harcourt with Hausa workers and civil servants and became a genuinely national street food that cuts across Nigeria's ethnic and religious divisions, one of the few dishes every Nigerian, regardless of origin, claims as their own. Today suya is sold from roadside charcoal grills each evening across the country, always wrapped in newspaper or brown paper, always with raw sliced onion on the side.

Ingredients

• FOR THE YAJI SPICE MIX (makes more than you need; store the rest)
• 100g kuli-kuli (roasted, pressed groundnut cake) or unsalted roasted peanuts
• 2 tablespoons ground cayenne pepper or hot chilli powder
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stock cube, finely crumbled
• FOR THE SUYA
• 800g beef topside or sirloin, sliced against the grain into 5mm-thick strips
• 4 tablespoons yaji spice mix
• 2 tablespoons groundnut oil or vegetable oil
• TO SERVE
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
• Extra yaji spice for sprinkling

Method

• 1. MAKE THE YAJI: If using whole peanuts, toast them in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes until golden and fragrant, then rub off the skins in a clean cloth. If using kuli-kuli, break it into rough pieces. Grind the peanuts or kuli-kuli in a blender or food processor to a coarse, sandy powder. Do not over-blend; it should not become paste.
• 2. Combine the ground peanuts with the cayenne, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, ginger, white pepper, salt and crumbled stock cube. Mix thoroughly. Store any excess in an airtight jar.
• 3. PREPARE THE MEAT: Pat the beef slices completely dry with kitchen paper. Any moisture will steam rather than grill and prevent the crust from forming.
• 4. In a large bowl, toss the beef strips with the oil and 4 tablespoons of the yaji until every piece is well coated. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours and up to 12 hours.
• 5. Thread the marinated beef firmly onto flat metal skewers or bamboo skewers that have been soaked in water for 30 minutes. Pack the strips tightly with no gaps.
• 6. GRILL: Prepare a charcoal grill or preheat a gas grill to high. Alternatively, preheat a grill pan or oven grill to its highest setting.
• 7. Grill the skewers for 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning frequently, until the meat is cooked through and the exterior is deeply coloured and slightly charred. The peanut-spice crust should form a fragrant, crunchy coating.
• 8. Transfer to a board or plate and immediately dust generously with extra dry yaji spice.
• 9. Serve wrapped loosely in paper or on a board alongside the sliced raw onion and tomatoes. The onion is not a garnish; it is an essential counterpoint to the heat and smoke of the meat.

Common questions