🍢 SNACK
Mishkaki (Tanzanian Beef Skewers)
Cubes of beef marinated in garlic, ginger, lemon, cumin, coriander and chili, threaded onto skewers and grilled over charcoal until charred at the edges, sold hot on street corners.
Tanzanian · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 12 min · plus 2 h hands-off time
~519 cal · 55g protein · 4g carbs · 30g fat · 1g fiber · 1g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Mishkaki, also written mshikaki, are skewers of marinated meat grilled over charcoal, and they are one of the great street foods of Tanzania. In Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Zanzibar, vendors fan their small grills on street corners, at markets and bus stations, and the smell of the smoke draws the crowd. They are sold in bars and at outdoor grills too, eaten hot off the skewer with a squeeze of lemon, a spoonful of kachumbari or a little chili sauce.
Beef is the most common, though goat and chicken are grilled the same way. The marinade does the work: garlic and ginger, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, turmeric and chili, and in many kitchens a little grated green papaya, whose enzyme tenderises the meat. The cubes are left in it for hours, or overnight, so they grill quickly and stay juicy.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 800 g (1 3/4 lb) beef rump or sirloin, cut into 2.5 cm cubes
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 3 tbsp lemon juice, plus lemon wedges to serve
- 2 tbsp green papaya, finely grated (optional), a natural tenderiser
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 to 1 tsp chili powder or cayenne
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, plus a little for basting
Instructions
- 1Mix the garlic, ginger, lemon juice, papaya, spices, salt and oil in a bowl. Add the beef and turn to coat every piece.
- 2Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight. If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for the last 30 minutes.✎ Chef’s noteWith papaya in the marinade, do not go much past overnight, or the meat turns mushy.
- 3Light a charcoal grill or heat a grill pan until very hot. Thread the beef onto skewers, packing the cubes close together.
- 4Grill for 10 to 12 minutes, turning every couple of minutes and basting with a little oil, until browned and charred at the edges but still juicy.
- 5Serve hot with lemon wedges, kachumbari or chili sauce.
Tanzanian street-food tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Zanzibar. The dishes that are Zanzibari rather than borrowed are street ones. Urojo, sold as Zanzibar mix, is a thin turmeric-yellow broth ladled over bhajia, crisps and cassava with tamarind and chilli, and Zanzibar pizza is a thin dough parcel folded around egg and filling on a flat griddle.
🗺️
Tanzania. Zanzibar's spice reputation has hard history behind it. The island was for a time the world's leading clove producer, planted under Omani rule, and the trade shaped what is cooked there: coconut, cardamom and cloves through rice and fish in a way the mainland does not do. Urojo, the Zanzibar mix soup, and mishkaki skewers are the street names worth knowing.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Tanzania
Zanzibar PilauRice simmered with whole spices from the island’s own groves, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, with beef and a kachumbari salad.
MaandaziLightly sweet East African fried dough triangles scented with cardamom and coconut.
Zanzibar UrojoA tangy turmeric-and-mango broth piled with fritters, potato, and crunchy toppings, Zanzibar's famous mix.
Browse all Tanzania recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Tanzania meal
Kahawa ya TangawiziDrink
KashataDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Brochettes au Koura-Koura (Burkinabè Peanut-Crusted Beef Skewers)Burkina Faso
Kamundele (Congolese Beef Skewers)DR Congo
KapanaNamibia
Anticuchos de Corazón (Peruvian Beef Heart Skewers)Peru
SuyaNigeria
Dibi (Senegalese Grilled Lamb with Mustard Onions)Senegal
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Mishkaki (Tanzanian Beef Skewers)?
Cubes of beef marinated in garlic, ginger, lemon, cumin, coriander and chili, threaded onto skewers and grilled over charcoal until charred at the edges, sold hot on street corners.
Where does Mishkaki (Tanzanian Beef Skewers) come from?
Mishkaki (Tanzanian Beef Skewers) is a Tanzanian dish from Zanzibar, Tanzania.
Can Mishkaki (Tanzanian Beef Skewers) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Mishkaki (Tanzanian Beef Skewers) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Mishkaki (Tanzanian Beef Skewers) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Mishkaki (Tanzanian Beef Skewers) take to make?
About 2 h 32 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 12 minutes cooking, plus 2 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.