⏱ Prep: 15 min 🔥Cook: 1 hr 👤Serves: 4–6 🌶Heat: Fiery, adjustable
Nigerian asun is the Yoruba street food that disappears off every platter at every owambe party before anything else even gets touched. Goat meat boiled with onion and seasoning until tender, then roasted or grilled until charred at the edges, finally tossed hot in a sizzling sauce of blended scotch bonnet, bell pepper and onion until every piece glistens. Smoky, fiery, and the reason goat meat has a fan club in Nigeria.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs (900g) goat meat, bone-in, skin-on if you can get it. Cut into bite-sized chunks.
- 1 onion, half sliced for boiling, half reserved for the pepper sauce
- 2 bouillon cubes, crumbled
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 red bell peppers, 1 blended into the sauce, 1 sliced for garnish
- 2–3 scotch bonnet peppers, adjust for heat. Nigerian scotch bonnets are intensely hot, start with 2 and taste before adding more.
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced, for garnish and colour
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon paprika —boosts the smoky red colour of the finished sauce
Step by step
- Boil the goat meat. Place the goat meat in a pot with half the sliced onion, bouillon cubes and salt. Add enough water to just cover. Cook over medium heat for 25–30 minutes until the meat is tender and most of the liquid has evaporated.Cook until the meat is genuinely fork-tender at this stage, the roasting step is for char and flavour, not for finishing the cooking. Underboiled goat meat stays tough no matter how long you roast it.
- Roast or grill for char. Spread the boiled meat on a foil-lined baking tray. Roast at 425°F (220°C) for 20–25 minutes, flipping halfway, until browned and slightly charred at the edges. Or grill over hot coals for the same smoky result.
- Make the pepper sauce. Coarsely blend 1 red bell pepper, the scotch bonnets and the remaining half onion, do not blend completely smooth, some texture is correct. Heat the oil in a dry pot over medium-high heat. Pour in the blended pepper mixture and the paprika. Fry for 6–8 minutes, stirring often, until the raw pepper smell cooks off and the sauce thickens slightly.
- Toss and serve. Add the roasted goat meat straight into the pepper sauce while both are hot. Stir well until every piece is coated evenly. Add the sliced red and green bell peppers and toss for 1 more minute. Serve immediately, hot.
The two things that make it asun
The char from roasting or grilling is non-negotiable, asun without it is just spicy boiled goat meat. The smoky edges are where the flavour lives.
Toss the meat into the pepper sauce while both are still hot. Hot meat absorbs the sauce; cooled meat just sits in it. This is the difference between asun that tastes seasoned all the way through and asun that tastes like sauce poured over plain meat.
Make it your own
Claire’s note
Asun is traditionally goat, but beef, chicken or pork all work with exactly the same method, boil until tender, roast for char, toss in the pepper sauce. Adjust the boiling time down for chicken (15–18 minutes) since it cooks faster than goat. For a milder version, use one scotch bonnet and increase the bell peppers. Leftovers keep refrigerated for up to 3 days and reheat well in a hot dry pan, a splash of oil brings the glisten back.
Serve with
Asun is classically served with cold beer, sliced onions on the side and a stack of toothpicks for easy eating at parties. Fried plantain or jollof rice turns it into a full meal. For more from the Nigerian collection the complete Nigerian recipes guide and the African food collection have it all.
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Nigerian Asun
- Total Time: 75 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
A fiery and smoky Nigerian street food featuring boiled and roasted goat meat tossed in a spicy pepper sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs (900g) goat meat, bone-in, skin-on, cut into bite-sized chunks
- 1 onion, half sliced for boiling, half reserved for the sauce
- 2 bouillon cubes, crumbled
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 red bell peppers, 1 blended, 1 sliced for garnish
- 2–3 scotch bonnet peppers, adjust for heat
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced, for garnish
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon paprika
Instructions
- Boil the goat meat in a pot with half the sliced onion, bouillon cubes, and salt, adding enough water to just cover. Cook over medium heat for 25–30 minutes until tender.
- Roast the boiled meat on a foil-lined baking tray at 425°F (220°C) for 20–25 minutes, flipping halfway until browned and slightly charred.
- Make the pepper sauce by coarsely blending 1 red bell pepper, scotch bonnets, and remaining onion. Heat oil in a pot, add the blended mixture and paprika, frying for 6–8 minutes until thickened.
- Toss the roasted goat meat in the pepper sauce while both are hot, stirring well to coat. Add sliced bell peppers and toss for 1 more minute.
Notes
For a milder version, use one scotch bonnet and increase bell peppers. Leftovers keep refrigerated for up to 3 days.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Roasting
- Cuisine: Nigerian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 450
- Sugar: 4g
- Sodium: 600mg
- Fat: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 12g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 25g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 35g
- Cholesterol: 80mg
