Fish Stews can be so boring…but not a BRAZILIAN Fish Stew!! With a fragrant tomato coconut sauce with a fresh hit of lime, this is such a different exotic way to serve up fish that is off the charts delicious – yet simple to make.
Brazilian Fish Stew
When I think of Brazilian food, I immediately have visions of grilled meat. Specifically, Churrasco. Serious quantities of grilled meat on giant skewers with the waiters walking from table to table, slicing the meat straight from the skewer onto my plate.
Carnivore heaven. 🙂
Because of the strong association of Brazilian food with Churrasco (and also because I don’t have a giant grill with a rotisserie) I thought sharing this traditional Brazilian fish stew would be nice for something a bit different!
The sauce of Brazilian Fish Stew is essentially a coconut curry sauce. Lightly spiced with a hit of lime, great depth of flavour!
What Brazilian Fish Stew tastes like
It tastes like a mild version of Thai Red Curry – and requires a whole lot less ingredients to make! The flavour of the sauce isn’t as kapow in-your-face, it is slightly more refreshing and not quite as rich.
While the flavour isn’t as intense, it doesn’t mean that it’s not as tasty! You will be amazing at the flavour you get from the relatively short list of ingredients. The key to this recipe is searing the fish first, and letting the sauce simmer down.
What you need
Here’s what you need to make Brazilian Fish Stew. See? I promised they were all “normal” ingredients!!!
Virtually any fish fillets will work here, though I’d avoid fish that dries out easily such as swordfish, kingfish, bonito and tuna. I’ve used snapper below. Other popular fish that will work well here include: tilapia, salmon, cod, basa, catfish, barramundi, bream, ling, John dory / Silver dory. See the recipes notes for more suggestions.
(Tip: These fish selection guidelines are good for any recipes where fish are braised or poached like this, such as Chinese Rice Soup and Goan Fish Curry.)
I remember the first time I saw this Brazilian Fish Stew recipe, I was a bit dubious that the sauce would have sufficient flavour with so few ingredients for the sauce. It gets a helping hand by searing the fish in the pan first. The golden bits left in the pan (it’s called fond) after searing the fish adds a good hit of savoury flavour into the sauce.
How to make Brazilian Fish Stew
And here’s how to make it. It takes around 1 hour all up including a brief marinating time for the fish, and simmering time to reduce the sauce.
What to serve with Fish Stew
Serve this over rice or mashed potato so you have something to soak up that glorious sauce. If you want to up the ante, try it with this Lime Rice – and a crusty hunk of bread to mop your plate clean wouldn’t go astray either (try this quick no-yeast Irish Bread).
If you’re going low carb, serve it over Cauliflower Rice or Creamy Mashed Cauliflower.
For a side salad, this Cucumber Salad with Herb & Garlic Dressing would go really well. The fresh, juicy, crunchy cucumber goes really well with this creamy coconut sauce. Otherwise, serve it alongside a leafy green salad with a vinaigrette (rather than creamy dressing) such as French Dressing, Italian or Balsamic Dressing.
Enjoy! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca Baiana)
Ingredients
Fish
- 1 lb / 500g firm white fish fillet , no skin, cut into 1"/2.5cm cubes (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Broth
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil or coconut oil (Note 4)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 small onion , finely diced (brown, yellow or white)
- 1 red capsicum / bell pepper (large), halved and sliced
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar (any)
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 14 oz / 400ml coconut milk (full fat best, Note 2)
- 14 oz / 400ml canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup fish broth/stock (or chicken or vegetable, Note 3)
Finishes
- 1 - 2 tbsp lime juice , plus more for serving
- 3 tbsp roughly chopped fresh cilantro / coriander , plus more for serving
Instructions
Fish
- Combine the fish, lime juice, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Heat the 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the fish and cook until just cooked through and light golden brown. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
Broth
- Reduce the stove to medium high and heat 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil in the same skillet. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 1 1/2 minutes or until the onion is starting to become translucent.
- Add the bell peppers and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the remaining Broth ingredients. Bring to simmer, then turn down to medium. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until it thickens. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
- Return the fish to the broth to reheat - about 2 minutes.
- Stir through lime juice.
- Garnish with cilantro/coriander and serve with rice or Lime Rice. For a low carb option, try Cauliflower Rice!
Recipe Notes:
a) Feast Magazine - Fish soup (moqueca baiana)
b) Brazilian Foodie - Moqueca Baiana
c) Saveur - Brazilian Fish Stew
d) Simply Recipes - Moqueca - Brazilian Fish Stew 6. Nutrition per serving assuming 4 servings, excludes rice.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published September 2015. Updated with new photos, brand new video and of course, a Life of Dozer section added!!
Less meat, more fish!
Life of Dozer
The one place in the new house he’s not allowed – the SPA. Can you imagine how much of his hair would come out with jets blasting on him?? Major filter clogging!!!
Sadly, this would not thicken, no matter what I did. It smelt delicious, but I was embarrassed that it was more soup-like with the rice and veges I had prepared.
I made this as per recipe and it was so so sweet! It to9k a lot ilof extra lemon juice and salt to balance that sweetness. After I had done that, it was a very tasty recipe and everyone loved it.
Just a minor note, as I was making the sauce,it looked a yukky pinky orange colour. Quite off putting. It did deepen in colour somewhat as the sauce simmered, so not a big drama.
Hi Nagi. Making your absolutely delicious Brazilian Fish Stew (again)! However, in the ingredient list under finishes you have: 3 tbsp roughly chopped fresh cilantro / coriander , plus more for serving, But there is no mention of the 3 tbsp Coriander in the Instructions?
The last instruction reads = Garnish with cilantro/coriander and serve with rice or Lime Rice. For a low carb option, try Cauliflower Rice!
Wonderful recipe!! Everyone at my dinner party raved about it. Even my husband, who doesn’t like fish. He raved about how good it tasted even though it was fish.
The basic flavour profile here is great! I prefer to use my own chilli paste rather than cayenne (which I find has more of a mouth heat), and I use smoked paprika before, you know, smokiness.
Variations I’ve tried include adding celery (works well), using chicken instead of fish (works really well) and reducing the ratio of coconut milk to tomato (I find too much of the milk just reduces the intensity of it a bit more than I’d prefer).
But as a base broth, this is a simple but brilliant combination. I’ve been cooking up batches of it for freezing and using with whatever I might have on hand and feel like using. Could even make a nice vegetarian meal with some eggplant or beans or something.
One of my favourites from your site so far, Nagi. Thanks!
I love Moqueca Baiana and I add a few chopped malagueta chilies along with some red palm fruit oil AKA Dende oil. I reserve extra lime wedges to brighten up the moqueca post cooking. Next I’m going to make Moqueca Capixaba from Espírito Santo which omits the coconut milk and is lighter in style.
So good Nagi! Used monkfish, shrimp and fresh calamari rings. Definitely a make again dish and company worthy.
Brazilian here. I was after a recipe that didn’t require dende oil. Perfect finding!! Guests were impressed. I will adjust the spices to be more child friendly. Thank you so much.
What a fantastic recipe. Love this one and will definitely make it again. Thanks 🙂 Ps I also used celery salt
Hi. Just wondering… when you use paprika in a recipe it would be useful (well, to pedantic little ol’ me at least) if you could stipulate if that should be sweet or smoked. Or maybe the difference is not so great as to matter? Thanks Nagi!.
I go for the smoked. To me, that hint of smokiness really sets this off!
This is a long term favourite of mine!! Even before I knew I was a recipetin fan I was making this!!
We have it a minimum of once a month and sometimes up to fortnightly, the flavours as an unusual combination work so well we only ever have leftovers if I make it for my two year old and I only!!
If you have an abundance of fish, any like me (partner likes to spear fish), then this will be in regular rotation. It also doesn’t hurt with the addition of extra types of seafood
We cooked this tonight using flake from a local seafood provider. Absolutely delicious. Yum
I have made this several times and love it! I use jumbo shrimp, sea scallops and Alaskan halibut. Wow!!
I depart from the recipe when it comes to marinating the fish in lime and then sauteing, which I find totally not necessary.
I add the fish/seafood to the simmering sauce after lightly salting and cover and turn off the pot, letting it in rest for about 10-15 minutes. Wow wow wow!!
I love the idea of using shrimp/prawns in this. Must try it!
Utterly delicious. This will be going on regular rotation in our house!
This was so delicious and flavorful! The recipe was simple to follow and really delivered. I will make this again and again.
Wow. This is so simple and so delicious. My partner even managed to cook it (yay for me) and it came out great. Simple and tasty.
Delicious! Made it tonight without the capsicum as my son doesn’t like cooked capsicum. They were all pleasantly surprised how yummy it was. Thanks Nagi!
My family really liked this! Thanks for the recipe.
Another winner recipe Nagi, this was delicious! Thank you.
Love this. I make it a fair bit. I also ass chickpeas and other veggies sometimes.
Has anyone used prawns before?
I haven’t made it with prawns but I was thinking the same thing. I reckon it would!