Vegan Suya (Spiced Grilled Mushrooms)
Overview
Oyster mushrooms grilled and tossed in suya spice. It is a plant-based version of the Nigerian street food, and it works better than most meat substitutions do. **The traditional suya spice contains ground peanuts, and this recipe includes them.** The source flags it and offers to leave them out, which is honest, but it is worth stating clearly, because a peanut allergy and a suya spice blend are a genuinely dangerous combination and the name gives no warning. Suya proper is skewered beef, ram or chicken rubbed in yaji, the spice blend of ground roasted peanuts, ginger, cayenne, garlic, onion powder and paprika, and grilled over open coals. It is Hausa in origin, from northern Nigeria, and it is sold across Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Ghana and parts of Sudan. Kyinkyinga is the Ghanaian name, agashe the Sudanese. Oyster mushrooms are the right substitution and not an arbitrary one. Shredded, they have a fibrous, layered structure that genuinely resembles pulled meat, they take on the dry rub readily, and they char well. Most vegetables do neither. The source's method is very compressed, one step reads "put in a preheated medium", with the word oven missing, and has been filled out below.
AFN Heritage Note
Suya is a Nigerian street food of meat rubbed in yaji spice and grilled over coals, originating with the Hausa of northern Nigeria and eaten across Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Ghana and parts of Sudan. It is known as kyinkyinga in Ghana and agashe in Sudan.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Wash the mushrooms and dry them thoroughly with kitchen paper. Wet mushrooms steam rather than charring.
- 2
Shred the oyster mushrooms along the grain into strips, this is what gives them the pulled-meat texture the dish depends on.
- 3
Spread them out on a baking pan and put them into a medium oven, or under a grill.
- 4
Cook for about 10 minutes, turning them regularly. They dry out quickly, so keep an eye on them.
- 5
Meanwhile, combine the ground peanuts, chillies, paprika, garlic powder, ginger, onion powder, crumbled bouillon cube and salt in a dry bowl.
- 6
Transfer the cooked mushrooms to a plate and scatter the spice mix over them, tossing to coat.
- 7
Serve with sliced raw onion and tomato, which is how suya is served in Nigeria.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Nena Ubani- The spice blend contains peanuts. Leave them out if you need to, but say so either way, the name gives no warning.
- Dry the mushrooms thoroughly before cooking. Wet mushrooms steam and never char.
- Shred them along the grain. It is what gives the fibrous, pulled-meat structure that makes this substitution work.
- Turn them regularly. Oyster mushrooms dry out fast and go from chewy to papery.
- Season after cooking, not before. Suya spice is a dry rub applied to hot food, and it burns if it goes on first.
- Raw onion and fresh tomato alongside is how suya is served, and the sharpness against the spice is the point.
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