Nigerian Street Food

At a Glance

📍 Location: Forest Hill, South London

💷 Price: £75 per person, or £140 for two

🍴 Cuisine: Nigerian

⏱️ Duration: 3 hours, including cooking and dining

👤 Age: 18+ (students 17 and under welcome with an adult over 21 who's also taking part)

👥 How you'll work: in pairs, at your own cooking station

🥘 Dietaries: Adaptable for vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian diets. Contains peanuts and shellfish, so not suitable for anyone with these allergies.

A Nigerian street food cooking class in London

Fiery, smoky and bursting with spice, Nigerian street food is one of Africa's best-kept culinary secrets. In this hands-on class you'll travel from the streets of Kano to Lagos and Enugu, cooking dishes from Nigeria's three major ethnic groups.

From toasting and grinding your own yaji spice blend to working with fermented rice batter and whipping bean paste into light, crisp akara, you'll pick up real skills and the stories behind each dish. No experience is needed; every step is demonstrated first.

What you'll learn

• Toast and grind your own yaji – discover the spices that give Nigerian street food its distinctive flavour, then blend your own batch.
• Master suya – skewer thin-cut beef like a mai suya, coat it generously in your yaji, then grill it until smoky and charred.
• Get hands-on with fermentation – work with tangy fermented rice batter to make sinasir, Northern Nigerian rice pancakes with a gentle sourness and a soft, spongy texture.
• Perfect your akara – blend soaked beans into a smooth paste, whip air into the batter, then fry golden fritters that are crisp outside and fluffy inside.
• Make abacha – toss shredded cassava in a spiced palm oil dressing and top it with smoked fish, fresh herbs and sliced vegetables.

What you'll eat and drink

• A welcome drink on arrival.
• Beef suya – thinly sliced beef, coated in your yaji and grilled until charred, with sliced onions and tomatoes.
• Sinasir – soft, lacy fermented rice pancakes.
• Akara – golden bean fritters, crisp outside and fluffy inside.
• Abacha – Igbo cassava salad in a spiced palm oil dressing, topped with smoked fish.
• Your own yaji spice blend to take home.
• Your choice of zobo (hibiscus, ginger, pineapple) or Chapman (cucumber, orange, lemon, blackcurrant).
• Water and tea are available throughout the class.

How the class runs

• All ingredients, equipment and aprons are provided.
• Easy-to-follow demonstrations come first, then you'll cook at your own station.
• You'll work in pairs to cook the dishes together.
• Once everything's cooked, we'll sit down to enjoy your Nigerian street food feast (or you can pack up a box to take home).
• You'll receive a digital recipe pack after class so you can cook everything again at home.

Things to know before you book

• You're welcome to book on your own. We'll pair you with another solo guest on the day.
• This is a hands-on class, so we can't accommodate spectators or provide a waiting area for friends and family. Everyone attending needs a ticket and takes part in the cooking.
• This class contains peanuts and shellfish. All ingredients are prepared in a shared kitchen where other common allergens may be present. Please tell us about any dietary requirements when you book.
• Looking for a gift? Book two places for £140, or buy a gift voucher.

More West African cooking classes in London:

Ghanaian Street Food · Nigerian Jollof · Nigerian Breakfast · Incredible Iyan · Amazing Abula