Suya

A Hausa-Fulani street food from northern Nigeria, traceable to at least the early 1900s among Hausa cattle-herding traditions, though similar dry-rub kebabs run across the Sahel from Sudan to Senegal. Suya men (mai suya) are almost exclusively Hausa, and the trade migrated south with Hausa labor in the mid-20th century — by the 1970s suya stalls had become standard at Lagos and Abuja roadsides.

Hausa-Fulani street meat from northern Nigeria, on Lagos roadsides since the 1970s. The peanut in yaji is dry-toasted and pressed defatted — wet peanut paste burns acrid on embers.

Thin strips of beef threaded onto bamboo skewers, rubbed in a dry rust-red peanut-and-chili powder, grilled over wood embers until edges char. Served on a sheet of newspaper with raw onion, sliced tomato, and an extra pinch of the spice mix. The peanut powder smells nothing like peanut sauce — it's been ground dry, defatted, and toasted, so it reads as warm-spice umami, not satay.

The spice mix (yaji) is the dish: dry-roasted peanuts ground to powder, then blended with ginger, paprika, dried chili, garlic powder, and a pinch of bouillon. The peanuts must be defatted by toasting and pressing — wet peanut paste burns on the grill and tastes acrid. Beef is sliced against the grain at 3mm thick; thicker and the rub doesn't penetrate, thinner and it dries to jerky.