Project Description

Spicy Nigerian Suya

Full Recipe in Details

INGREDIENTS
  • 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

Dry Marinade
  • 10 peppercorns (or Uda pods if you can find them **)

  • 400g salted roasted peanuts

  • 1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 teaspoon onion granules

  • 1 teaspoon garlic granules

  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger

  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

  • 1 teaspoon paprika

  • 1 teaspoon chilli powder

  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

  • 1 organic fish or chicken stock cube

  • 1 onion

  • 4 cloves of garlic

  • 1 thumb-sized piece of  ginger

  • 1 fresh green chilli

  • 1 red pepper

  • 1 spring onion

  • If you don’t have all the ingredients – don’t worry, just add in as many as you can with a balance of nuts, garlic, ginger, pepper, chilli, salt and onion.

GUIDE / INSTRUCTIONS
  • 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.

NOTES

** Uda pods add a lively and distinctive peppery taste to dishes and are used a lot in West African cooking. If you can’t get hold of them, Szechuan/Tassie mountain or Green peppercorns are similar in flavour and a good substitute. (Thanks to Jamie Oliver and Street vendors in Nigeria for the recipe!)

Have a super week ahead and enjoy eating well and staying healthy!

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