Suya Recipe: Ghanaian Yaji-Spiced Grilled Meat Skewers

Ingredients

For the yaji (suya spice):

• 1 cup (about 150 g) finely ground kulikuli, or finely ground roasted peanut powder with the oil pressed out
• 2 tablespoons ground dried chili (cayenne or dried kpakposhito), more or less to your heat
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 seasoning cube, crushed to a powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)

For the meat:

• 2 1/4 lbs (1 kg) beef topside or flank, sliced thin across the grain (about 1/4 inch / 5 mm thick)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or groundnut oil, plus more for basting
• Wooden or metal skewers

For serving:

• 1 large onion, sliced into rings or half moons
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 1/2 cucumber, sliced (common, not mandatory)
• Extra yaji for dipping
• Newspaper or brown paper, for serving it the street way

Method

1. If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes so they do not burn through on the grill.
2. Make the yaji: put the ground kulikuli, chili, ginger, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, crushed seasoning cube, and cloves if using in a bowl and mix until completely even. Taste a pinch on your fingertip. It should be salty, hot, gingery, and deeply peanutty. Set aside about a third of the blend in a clean, dry bowl for serving. That portion never touches raw meat.
3. Put the beef slices in a wide bowl. Drizzle with the oil and toss so every piece is lightly coated. Sprinkle over the remaining two thirds of the yaji and massage it into the meat with your hands until every slice is covered on both sides.
4. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour, and up to overnight. The longer it sits, the deeper the spice goes.
5. Thread the beef onto the skewers, weaving the slices accordion style so they lie flat and cook evenly. Do not pack them tight; the fire needs edges to char.
6. Grill over hot charcoal, turning every few minutes and basting lightly with oil, for 8 to 12 minutes in total, until the edges are charred in spots and the meat is cooked through but still juicy. A grill pan or a very hot oven grill (broiler) works abroad: cook close to the heat, 5 to 6 minutes per side, and expect a little less smoke in the flavor.
7. As the skewers come off the fire, dust them with a little of the reserved fresh yaji.
8. Serve immediately on newspaper or a platter lined with it: skewers laid over the sliced onions, tomatoes alongside, and the bowl of reserved yaji in the middle for dipping.

Tips

Slice thin, slice across the grain. Suya beef is not steak. Thin slices across the grain cook fast, char at the edges, and stay tender. Thick chunks dry out before the spice crusts.

Keep the serving yaji separate from the start. The spice that touched raw meat gets cooked or thrown away. The dipping bowl is measured out before the marinating begins. Every suya man does it this way, and so should we.

Charcoal is not a detail. The smoke is half the dish. If you are cooking indoors, the oven grill method works, but the first chance you get to make this over real charcoal, take it, and you will taste what the fuss is about.