Spicy Nigerian Suya – delicious spicy beef skewers

1kg fillet of beef, trimmed (boneless chicken thigh will also do)

500g ripe truss tomatoes

½ red cabbage

1 red onion

1 cucumber

2 lemons

extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

olive oil

Eaten straight off the BBQ grill, these sizzling beef or Chicken skewers are a popular and delicious Nigerian street food snack. Around 1 hour before you start, soak wooden skewers in cold water. Very finely slice the beef or chicken, flatten slightly with the flat side of your knife, then place on a plate. Cover and place in the fridge until needed.

To make the marinade, bash the peppercorn or uda pods in a pestle and mortar. Remove and discard the seeds, then place the pods into a liquidiser with the peanuts and spices. Crumble in the stock cube, then blitz for 5 to 10 minutes to a rough dry powder, stopping and stirring the mixture from time to time. Transfer the ground spices to a large bowl.  Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger. Trim and deseed the chillies and pepper, then roughly chop. Trim and roughly chop the spring onion. Add it all to the liquidiser and blitz until smooth. Transfer the mixture to the ground spices and stir well. Turn the beef in the marinade until well coated, then thread 4 to 5 slices onto each soaked skewer. Place on a tray, cover and pop in the fridge to marinate for around 3 hours.

To make the salad, finely slice the tomatoes, then trim and finely shred the cabbage. Peel and finely slice the onion, then finely slice the cucumber. Place into a large bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Preheat  your BBQ over a medium-high heat. Drizzle the skewers with a little olive oil, then place on the griddle for 1 to 2 minutes, or until beautifully gnarly and golden, turning regularly (you’ll need to do this in batches). Drizzle over a little extra virgin olive oil, then serve with the salad and extra lemon wedges for squeezing over.