West Africa · Street food

Kilishi (Thin Sun-Dried Spiced Beef Jerky)

Name: Kilishi (Thin Sun-Dried Spiced Beef Jerky)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Niger
Ingredients: 1000 g lean beef topside or eye of round, completely trimmed of fat and silverskin; 200 g defatted roasted peanut paste (kuli-kuli powder or ground defatted peanut meal); 20 g ground dried ginger (citta); 15 g ground dried garlic; 15 g ground dried onion; 12 g cayenne pepper or crushed dry Scotch bonnet flakes (yaji); 5 g ground grains of Selim (uda); 4 g ground African nutmeg (calabash nutmeg / ehuru); 25 g dark brown sugar; 15 ml fermented seasoning liquid or dark soy sauce; 300 ml water; fine sea salt, to taste

Paper-thin sheets of beef sun-dried, saturated in a spiced peanut and chili paste, and flash-grilled over glowing acacia coals.

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hausastreet-foodbeef-jerkysuya-spice

The story

A celebrated Hausa preserved meat delicacy enjoyed year-round across urban centers like Zinder and Niamey. Perfected centuries ago by pastoral butchers to preserve surplus beef during the dry harmattan winds, it is today a prized street food and luxury traveler snack. The central technical brilliance lies in the labu—a spiced slurry of defatted roasted peanut flour and alliums that completely infuses the dehydrated beef fibers before brief coal roasting.

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