Central Africa · Street food

Chichinga (Spiced Beef and Offal Skewers)

Name: Chichinga (Spiced Beef and Offal Skewers)
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Central African Republic
Ingredients: 400 g beef sirloin or flank steak, sliced across the grain into 2 mm thin ribbons; 200 g fresh ox or beef liver (foie de bœuf), trimmed of membrane and sliced 2 mm thin; 80 g kuli-kuli powder (defatted peanut flour or roasted finely ground peanuts); 15 g ground dried ginger (gingembre moulu); 10 g granulated garlic powder; 10 g granulated onion powder; 5 g ground African bird's eye chili (piment rouge moulu or cayenne); 4 g ground grains of Selim (kili / poivre de Guinée, or cracked black pepper); 6 g crushed bouillon powder (savory seasoning cube); 5 g fine sea salt; 45 ml unrefined peanut oil (huile d'arachide); 1 piece large red onion, halved and separated into individual petals

Succulent skewers of spiced beef, liver, and onions crusted in roasted peanut kuli-kuli and grilled over glowing hardwood charcoal.

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The story

Originating along the pastoral transhumance corridors that link northern Central African Republic with Chad and northern Nigeria, Chichinga is the centerpiece of open-air night markets in Bangui's KM5 commercial district. Fulani and Hausa grill masters (brochetiers) prepare these skewers at sundown over hand-crafted braziers stoked with dense, aromatic hardwood coals. The culinary cornerstone of the dish is kuli-kuli, a defatted peanut press-cake ground into powder that absorbs sizzling beef fats while cooking, forming a crisp, savory-spiced crust that prevents the delicate liver and lean beef ribbons from drying out.

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