tekobo Posted June 30, 2018 Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 (edited) As an emigrant from my home country and an immigrant here in the UK, I find that street food is one of the things I miss the most and love to eat when I get to go back to Nigeria. Cooking suya on my KK has been a dream cook for a while but I have been nervous about not getting it right. Thanks to you all pushing and encouraging and trying it out yourselves, I finally got around to making my own suya tonight. For the back story see this thread for the weirdest segue from marmite to Nigerian cooking: Today's cook started with the suya rub that my father, who is visiting from Lagos, brought over for me. It is from our family's favourite suya stand. Had to pay homage to my dad, here is his ever neat handwriting on bottle one of the four that he brought for me. Even though investigation by my mother revealed that the primary cut of meat used for suya is the hindquarter (sirloin, rump, top rump etc), one of my favourite cuts of beef is skirt and so I used that. Here it is all trimmed of membrane. I cut the meat thinly, parallel with the grain, and marinaded it in salt, dry rub and oil for a few hours. Here it is all skewered up. The first cook was at 225C for 8 mins in total. "Plated", with extra dry rub sprinkled on at the end of the cook. You would normally get a portion of this in newspaper with your choice of raw red onion and tomato. The second cook was better at 300C for 6 mins in total. The Husband was happy with the crunchy bits on the latter cook and my father, who had been out for a walk but made it back just in time for the second batch, declared it "better than the original". What more could I ask for? I know a number of you have your own suya cooks planned. That is awesome. I look forward to seeing how they turn out and what you think of our food. Edited July 1, 2018 by ckreef 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pequod Posted June 30, 2018 Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 I did mine today too! I’ll start a separate thread with my cook. Congrats on your father’s compliment. You did him proud! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted June 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 13 minutes ago, Pequod said: I did mine today too! I’ll start a separate thread with my cook. Congrats on your father’s compliment. You did him proud! Fab! And no, you don't need to start a separate thread. "Nigerian suya" does not have to be cooked by a Nigerian. Would love to see yours and other people's cooks on this thread. I just started this so that it would be retrievable in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pequod Posted June 30, 2018 Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 (edited) @tekobo has been our Suya muse, starting with the great Marmite thread, that has less to do with Marmite than Suya. Practically the same thing . Tonight she cooked it: And so did I, using the recipe from Milk Street magazine (PM me your email address if you’d like me to send it to you...behind a paywall otherwise). @tekobo also gave me tips on how to make it more authentic, including skipping the lime juice and the accompaniments of raw tomato and red onion. Here we go! I opted to go with skirt, slice it into 1/2” ribbons and salted it 30 minutes before cooking. Next, I prepared the tomato and onion. I went a little off book with the tomato by topping it with chiffonaded basil and really good olive oil. Sue me! Next, prepared the suya pepper. Made a paste with oil (per Milk Street) and rubbed the beef. Onto the direct side of the BB 32: More rub: Off the skewers and chopped into chunks: Fresh out of newspapers (digital age!), so next best thing...a plate (sue me!): This was fantastic. My daughter, the food critic, couldn’t stop eating with tomato and onion in every bite. I have no idea if it as authentic, but it was definitely delicious. If only there was some way to compare with a more authentic rub... Edited June 30, 2018 by Pequod 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted June 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 Way hay! That looks fabulous. Won't sue you over chiffonaded basil but might try charring the tomato next time with a bit of extra rub. As for teasing me about trying the authentic rub, the tracking says your consignment is in New York. You never know, you just might get it in time for July 4. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pequod Posted June 30, 2018 Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 (edited) OBE Edited July 1, 2018 by Pequod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pequod Posted June 30, 2018 Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 Even better,,,it’s in Maryland according to USPS. Probably here on Monday! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfdrew28 Posted June 30, 2018 Report Share Posted June 30, 2018 Great looking cook to both of you and I enjoyed the family backstory. I’m searching SF Bay Area for an authentic rub to give this try. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Pequod, your dinner looks sooooooooo delicious. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussie Ora Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Looks greatSent from my SM-G900K using Tapatalk 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 I know what I'm going to be dreaming about tonight, Suya, yah, Suya. Delicious, tekobo. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Pearson Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Tekobo that looks yummy please save me a skewer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonFire Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Love me some sticks...nice work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangles Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Wow. Looks very yummy. How do you keep your kk walls so clean? Mine are pitch black. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangles Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Super impressive. YumSent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pequod Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Interestingly, I have located a local source of Suya Pepper: https://www.bazaarspices.com/african-cuisine/suya-pepper-spice-detail This isn’t far from my office, so next time I cook Suya I’ll have to pick some up for a side by side comparison with the real deal from Nigeria and the Milk Street version. Union Market also happens to be the location of my local Japanese knife shop. How convenient... @ckreef - can I request that my suya thread be merged here? Didn’t want to distract from @tekobo‘s awesomeness, but she gave permission after I posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 30 minutes ago, Pequod said: Interestingly, I have located a local source of Suya Pepper: https://www.bazaarspices.com/african-cuisine/suya-pepper-spice-detail This isn’t far from my office, so next time I cook Suya I’ll have to pick some up for a side by side comparison with the real deal from Nigeria and the Milk Street version. Union Market also happens to be the location of my local Japanese knife shop. How convenient... @ckreef - can I request that my suya thread be merged here? Didn’t want to distract from @tekobo‘s awesomeness, but she gave permission after I posted. I'll try. Hope I don't screw it up - LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 I mucked it up a little bit (did a backwards merge) but I think I got it fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pequod Posted July 1, 2018 Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 Looks good here. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekobo Posted July 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2018 1 hour ago, Pequod said: Interestingly, I have located a local source of Suya Pepper: https://www.bazaarspices.com/african-cuisine/suya-pepper-spice-detail This isn’t far from my office, so next time I cook Suya I’ll have to pick some up for a side by side comparison with the real deal from Nigeria and the Milk Street version. Cool. I was going to suggest that you don't serve the Nigerian version at your 4th of July do. It is pretty hot and might leave your guests with dicky tummies if it is their first try. There is a children's chant from colonial times which goes: "Oyinbo pepper, if you eatee pepper, you go yellow more more". I think we thought white people going red (or yellow) after eating hot stuff was an interesting design flaw. As it stands my (white) husband and my father are both fine after eating a load of hot suya last night but I am feeling less good. Go figure. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
