How to prepare Nigerian Suya

Posted by Felix Okoli on Wednesday November 23, 2011 16:39:6:

For lovers of the famous Nigerian suya, I guess you might have always wanted to know how this delicacy is actually prepared. What are the things involved in making suya?

Suya is actually roasted red meat that has been dipped in oil and some spice made up of kuli kuli(includes groundnut) and it is served hot with some chopped onions, tomatoes and ground chilli pepper.
Although, there may be a couple of different ways to prepare Suya, the basics are the same.
It involves cutting the beef into flat pieces so that it can cook faster and then placing them of sticks, mixing it with the sources and then roasting it over a charcoal fire.

Ingredients needed
- Meat, cut into flat pieces
- Ground chilli or hot pepper.
- Salt.
- Tomatoes.
- Onions.
- Ground kuli kuli and other sources(enough to spice up the meat).
- Groundnut oil
- Metal skewer for roasting above the fire

Steps
- Put the ground chilli pepper in a bowl and mix with the salt and kuli kuli, and any other spices you may want.
- Take your meat and slice into flat pieces. Pummel with a wooden roller if possible to make it flat
- Add the spices to the sliced meat pieces and allow to absorb for a while
- Pour some groundnut oil over the spices meat potions in preparation for roasting. This will help it get cooked easily without getting burnt
- Insert roasting sticks into the beef and place on the metal gauze to roast over the coal fire
- Roast the prepared beef gradually over the fire, once side after the other e.g. 5 mins each
- Once it's done take out and place on sheets of paper
- Add some ground chilli pepper and cut some onions and tomatoes over it to service
- Serve with toothpicks and if you like some cold drinks too

Some Tips
- It's better to use lean meat that has no fat thant to use fatty meat.
- Make sure that you evenly cut the meat flat so that it roasts faster and more uniformly
- Make use of oil sprays on meat while roasting to prevent it getting burnt

So that's how we prepare and serve Suya, Naijastyle!

Suya is a very popular Nigerian dish mostly prepared by northerners at barbeque joints. It is normally served hot and with spices, onions and tomatoes including ketchup in some cases.