Host:John Dein
Location: West London
Cost: £10 per person
Cooking time: Food marinated 24 hours in advance, one hour's preparation and the barbecuing went on most of the evening
Clearing-up time: 2 hours

The whole culture in Nigeria revolves around the consumption of food, but there is no great ceremony about eating; families eat together from one big plate. It's easy not to be a good cook in Nigeria because there is so much good food on the street. Suya is barbecued street food, it's quite cheap and it is mainly night food. Nobody ever makes suya at home - there isn't much point when the best people to do it are the Suya people, from the Hausa tribe, who have been cooking it all their lives. At home you eat normal home-made food like rice, plantain and yam, but suya is social food.

I cook it for my friends quite often, when the British weather permits. Nigerians are less formal with barbecues. It's a very English thing to sit around the table with a lot of food and wine. I just invite people to come round in the evening or the afternoon. Time isn't an issue. I find the whole idea of being invited for an 'eight o'clock for nine' dinner a real turn-off. Barbecues are brilliant because they are very simple to make and don't require a great deal of preparation. People just come round to eat, drink, dance, whatever.

It's one of my joys to cook. My parents cooked at home and I learnt by watching and helping my mum in the kitchen. There were never any recipes and we always ate bog-standard Nigerian food. My barbecues have to be authentic. You can buy the suya powder from African shops but it's not that well-known. In London you can find it in Dalston, Brixton and Finsbury Park. We wash the food down with a calabash full of palm wine - it's a natural drink made from the dew and the juices of the palm tree. Tappers collect the pine from tree gourds that hang from the palms. The variety that you can buy in African grocers, called Amiga, has been tamed because it is bottled, but it still tastes brilliant. The dessert is always fresh fruit like papaya, coconut, pawpaw, pineapple and a typical Nigerian fruit called agbalumó.

Dein Jones is a writer and director currently working on a film called Camilla's Rhapsody, due out next year for his production company, Sofaya Films.

Recipes

For the beef suya
serves 10

1kg cut of beef - sirloin to topside, marbled with a little fat
1 medium size Scotch bonnet pepper (available from all African, Carribean and Indian grocers)
Ororo (groundnut oil or you can use pure vegetable oil)
Suya powder 100g (a combination of 10 or more dried spices, including atawewe (the small fiery chillis))
2 lemons
salt

Have the butcher cut the beef into flat strips abut 5 mm thick, and cut lengthways about 4cm. Mix the suya powder, lemon juice, the scotch bonnet pepper (diced) and about six to eight tables spoons of the oil to form a marinade which should look like a deep brown slightly gritty sludge. Marinate the beef overnight, for 24 hours if possible.

For the goat suya

2kg of goat leg (goats have no rump)

The method is the same as above except the marinating time is much longer, at least 18-24 hours, and you should add a bit more lemon juice (goat meat has a tendency to resemble shrivelled up cardboard once you get it on the barbecue).

For the garnish

The garnish for the above is simplicity in itself. Finely sliced raw onions and tomato dusted with suya powder.

For the boli (barbecued plantain)

1-2 per person ripe, unmarked, yellow plantains

Peel the plaintain, cut them in half with the knife held at a 60 degree angle. Cook for five to 10 minutes on each side. Don't worry if the outside burns: it is what occurs in the middle that is interesting. Plaintain has a sweet, savoury and slightly malty flavour.

Sweet corn (when in season)

Corn can be cooked with or without the ear. Turn occasionally over five to 10 minutes and serve.

Now for the fish

5 tbsps of palm oil (the deep, bright red original refined palm oil, a variety called zomi is equally as good)
1 medium sized snapper per person
A pinch of salt
1-2 tbsps of dried chillis (atawewe)

We have to compromise here. The best fish for this is called ladyfish (don't ask), not avaliable here, so we go for snappers. Fresh (do not on any account touch the frozen sort) silvery, goldy glistening variety.

Let the fishmonger scale, clean and gut the fish (I leave the head on). Make a mixture of the palm oil (enough to coat the fish) with the chillis and salt; it should form a gritty mixture. Brush this paste into all open crevices. Let the fish sit coated in it for a few hours then barbecue for five minutes on either side.