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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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!!!
Hi Nagi,
I made this tonight after seeing it on a TV show.
It was out of the park ridiculously good!!
Thanks again Nagi.
Phil x
I made this without the coconut milk & fish, froze it. Four months later I defrosted it, add the coconut milk & fish. Full of flavour & a hit with the family. Thanks Nagi
I am sorry to read that you received abusive messages regarding the absence of west african palm oil in the recipe (certainly there is no justification for such behavior). However it can hardly be called moqueca Bahiana without the west african palm oil. It is NOT the same type of palm oil whose production and use is controversial. The west african palm oil was brought to Brazil by African slaves and that is why is an staple of the Afro-Brazilian cuisine. The flavour of the oil is really strong and so particular that I can’t think of anything else that can be used to replaced it.
I’ve cooked a different version of this from another site, which I liked but I found the spices too over powering.. This recipe was much better, and easier. I used salmon which worked beautifully. Other than that I followed the steps as directed and the whole family loved it. I did add extra coriander and cayenne. Great week night meal. Got my fish monger to dice the fish. All very easy. Thanks again!!
I am happy you enjoyed it Vanita! N x
Nagi, a great recipe!! I grew up in Brasil and know this as “Moqueca de Peixe” and its sister recipe is “Moqueca de Camarão” (shrimp). We had a cook from Bahia who made these. The only difference was that she added hot peppers instead of the Cayenne powder and about 6 cloves of garlic instead of two. On the shrimp version, she diced the peppers and onionsinto pinky-fingernail sizes and the shrimp were added to the finished sauce 2-3 minutes before serving to ensure they were not overcooked. I can send you the shrimp version if you would like. One ingredient missing is the palm oil (Azeite de Dendé) which in my opinion is an absolute necessity to give it that original flavor (I get it on Amazon.com).
Sincerely, this was amazing. I rarely leave reviews because, honestly, most recipes are terrible. My husband is Brazilian and a Marine. He has been oversees for a over a year; and from time to time, I get nostalgic and like to make foods that remind me of him. I had company over for lunch that brought me a statue from Bahia. I thought, “I should make moqueca.” It seemed fitting 😊. I used real dendê oil. To me, it’s not moqueca without dendê. I think it’s a shame people who do not understand the culture of a region, their food and the deep, deep religious roots in which it derives from would feel that it’s ok to bash you for giving us the gift of a recipe for a beautiful moqueca. Dendê is almost sacred in this part of Brasil. Orixá is life there, and dendê is the food of Orixá. Please, if you have a problem with red palm oil, sincerely, you should look up a recipe for Moqueca de Capixaba that has an olive oil base. Otherwise, this is a beautiful Bahia dish that is delightful. Thank you so much for this recipe. It brought me a lot of comfort.
Made this for dinner last night. Only change I made was to increase brown sugar to 1tbs. Unbelievably delicious. Thank you for yet another winning recipe. This is a definite must make recipe
I LOVE Thai and Mexican food and this was the best of both worlds! LOVED it!! I did add a 1/2 tsp more of sugar and a bit of corn flour to thicken. Amazing dish!
Absolutely delicious! You never seem to amaze me! What I love even more is that my family loves everything too so we get to try a variety of different food that always tastes great! Thank you!
Excellent recipe!!! It’s now on my favorites! My husband who doesn’t like fish, loved it!
Another one converted!!! N x
I wish you had specified Pacific rather than Atlantic cod. I used the latter, not knowing Atlantic breaks apart easily when cooking. It was tasty anyway.
Wow, really easy and beautiful flavours. Definitely a keeper. Thanks Nagi 👍
Delicious! My husband called it “restaurant-quality.”
“Restaurant Quality” is an insult around here. We can do better! Remind your husband of that!
There are no words to describe the expulsion of flavor in this recipe. Oh my gosh 😍
OUT – STAND – ING! This was simple, healthy, and so well balanced & delicious. Thank you
You are welcome! N x
Can I replace the capsicum with something else? Hubby can’t eat it
If it is the spicyness, then replace it with Hungarian sweet paprika. If it is an allergy, then this is not the recipe for him. The red bell pepper is a base flavor in this dish.
What a delicious dish !
I used rockling and light coconut milk and it was perfect. Something different but so yum .
It will go into my Nagi favourites 😀
great as always!
Wow! This was amazing, thought we’d have Brazilian food for something completely different and it was an instant favourite. Served it with some rice, green beans and cucumber salad. 10/10 recommend.
Hi!
What is the UK conversion from a cup of fish stock into ml’s please?
In Australia a cup is 250 ml – presume the same in UK?