We Eat African (WEA): Nigerian Suya + Suya Spice Recipe

Nigerian Beef Suya is a popular street delicacy enjoyed by everyone. To describe it in layman's terms, it is simply barbecued skewered meat prepared with a special spice known as suya spice. Originally from the Northern part of Nigeria, "Suya" has now been adopted as a main staple across Nigeria. The secret to this popular meal has a lot to do with the specially prepared spice which is usually coated around the meat before roasting on the barbecue grill. Suya spice is made from a mixture of different ingredients which includes pepper, groundnuts and a host of others. During my street foodie waka through the North, i also noticed to my amazement that it's sometimes prepared in open flame as shown in the pictures. i had never seen it done in open flame before that day and my curiosity got the better part of me. Though i couldn't speak Hausa language, i was able to get the ingredients from the "mai suya" by going through the Hausa-English conversion Language book i was given at the camp :D. It could be made with beef, chicken, ram or Inner parts such as kidney, liver and tripe (Sharki).

Ingredients for Suya spice:

• ½ cup roasted groundnuts "peanuts"

• ½ cup Small Dry cayenne pepper “Ose Nkiri” , powdered

• 1 tsp. Salt

• ½ tsp. dry ginger, ground

• ½ tsp. dry garlic, ground

How to make Suya spice:::

Step 1: Peel the skin off the roasted peanuts by rubbing between your hands. place the roasted peanuts on a flat tray and blow off the skin leaving the bare peanuts.

Step 2:The next step is to extract the groundnut oil because what you'd need is the paste. To do it locally, Place the peeled peanuts in a dry mill and grind into a paste. Add a little hot water and pour the paste through a pap sieve. Squeeze the paste and  gradually the oil would begin to come out leaving the groundnut cake behind in the sieve. This is then left to dry a little before frying.

Step 3: After the groundnut cake has been fried, add the cayenne pepper, ground ginger, garlic powder and salt, blend some more to incorporate.

This can now be used to coat the meat you intend roasting

Ingredients for Beef Suya:::

• Beef

• Suya Spice

• Vegetable oil /Groundnut oil

Tools you'll need: 
Skewers

 Directions:::

Step 1: Slice the beef into thin strips

Step 2: Insert the skewers through about 3-4 strips of beef from the middle

Step 3: Dip the beef skewers in the Suya spice making sure you coat every part generously

Step 4: Drizzle with vegetable oil and place on the barbecue grill. In the north, Suya is sometimes prepared in open flame. 

Step 5: Once in a while, brush some more vegetable oil over the meat to prevent it from burning and drying up.

Serve with chopped chunks of Raw onion, Tomatoes or Cucumber. 

Recipes by www.dobbyssignature.com