Ingredients
- 1000 gr. fillet of beef , trimmed
- 500 gr. ripe tomatoes , mixed colours if possible
- ½ a red cabbage
- ½ a white cabbage
- 1 red onion
- 1 cucumber
- 2 lemons
- extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- olive oil
For the marinade
- 10 uda pods
- 400 gr. salted roasted peanuts
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion granules
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 organic fish or chicken stock cube
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
- 1 fresh green chilli
- 1 fresh Scotch bonnet
- 1 green pepper
- 1 spring onion
Method
- Around 1 hour before you start, soak 32 wooden skewers in plenty of cold water.
- Very finely slice the beef, flatten slightly with the flat side of your knife, then place on a plate.
- Cover and place in the fridge until needed.
Marinade
- Bash the uda pods in a pestle and mortar.
- Remove and discard the seeds, then place the pods into a liquidiser with the peanuts and spices.
- Crumble in the stock cube, then blitz for 5 – 10′ to a rough powder, stopping and stirring the mixture from time to time.
- Transfer the ground spices to a large bowl.
- Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger.
- Trim and deseed the chillies and pepper, then roughly chop.
- Trim and roughly chop the spring onion.
- Add it all to the liquidiser and blitz until smooth.
- Transfer the mixture to the ground spices and stir well.
- Turn the beef in the marinade until well coated, then thread 4 to 5 slices onto each soaked skewer.
- Place on a tray, cover and pop in the fridge to marinate for around 3 hours.
Salad
- Finely slice the tomatoes, then trim and finely shred the cabbage.
- Peel and finely slice the onion, then finely slice the cucumber.
- Place into a large bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Preheat a large griddle pan over a medium-high heat.
- Drizzle the skewers with a little olive oil, then place on the griddle for 1 – 2′, or until beautifully gnarly and golden, turning regularly.
- Drizzle over a little extra virgin olive oil, then serve with the salad and extra lemon wedges for squeezing over.
Tip
- Uda pods add a lovely sharp, peppery taste to dishes and are used a lot in West African cooking. If you can’t get hold of them, Szechuan peppercorns are similar in flavour.