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!!!
This was delicious! I used coconut oil instead of the olive oil, and mahi mahi as the fish. I only had tomato puree on hand (not crushed tomatoes) and that was fine.
What type of white fish are you all using?
I use anything that looks good and is good value on the day 🙂 Snapper, trevali, dory, cod, perch – anything N x
So, would it be okay to leave the onion out of the soup? I have an onion allergy and can’t have it in any form. Do you think it will make the soup less flavorful by leaving it out?
Hi Mariko! It will a bit because onion adds flavour but there’s PLENTY of other flavour in this so it’s fine! N x
Another no fail recipe !!!
Absolutely delicious!!
Done with local gummy shark.
Congratulations and thanks for all your amazing recipes.
That’s great Berny! Thanks for letting me know! – N x ❤️
Can you use seafood stock instead of fish broth? Is it the same?
it is the same!
fish broth = seafood stock
😄 🍲 🤤
I used Seafood stock instead and it was delicious!! Just the smell filled my office and people were asking what I was eating and I let a few try it and not I gotta make it again from Friday because so many liked. The only difference is I did a small flour rue so it could thicken up a bit but that’s it.
I used fish stock and mixed in 1/2 teaspoon of cornflour to thicken a bit.
Another one to add to my list! I’m slowly working my way through your recipes, and we have thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them.
I have a newborn and a toddler so sometimes it’s hard to find the energy and time to cook! But you have inspired me and have made me enjoy cooking again. Thank you Nagi! X
Multi tasking to the max! 😂
Made this stew tonight with Tilapia fish. It was delicious, we loved it. Thank you for sharing
Is the coconut flavour strong? I love all the ingredients in this dish and it sounds deliciousand love fresh coconut too but not a fan of strong coconut flavour in a meal
Hi Karen, I definitely do not think of this as having a strong coconut flavour like coconut curry 🙂 Hope that helps!
This is one of our favorite dinners! We make it regularly for weeknight meals and have also shared with company, and everyone loves it. Thank you!
Hi Nagi,
Does the nutrition assume the rice too? It seems very high to just be the stew… I love this recipe btw and I use coconut oil as well.
i made it without adding sugar and it was wonderful
It’s just the stew! 🙂 N x
Tonight was the second time I made this dish. Tonight’s was even better than last time . I went searching for a recipe for white fish since our neighbors generously gifted us a number of portions of fresh fish after an epic fishing trip. This is fast becoming a family favorite. My 9 and 12 year old girls practically lick the plate clean (and so do my husband and I, just quietly).
That’s so great to hear Jenny! Thank you for taking the time to let me know! N x
Made this for my husband tonight and he loved it. I used leftover seared tuna 🙂 . My husband enjoyed the base of this stew so much he wants me to try it with chicken next time.
I’m so pleased to hear that Heather! Thanks for sharing your feedback! N x 😊
I made this last week for dinner and it was delicious! I was feeling particularly lazy so I threw a couple of packets of 2 minute noodles into the sauce about 5 minutes before the end and turned it into a one pan meal.
I’m so pleased to hear you enjoyed this Laura! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know – N x
Made this tonight for my family. I used fresh cod. I followed the recipe, but added a little coconut creamer. This was an epic meal. My Mom is dishing out a second helping as I type. This is lovely!
That’s great to hear Erica! Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback! N xx
Thank you for posting this recipe! I made this dish today, added carrots, zucchini, and yellow squash. It was really yummy! Hubby even had a second. I have made plenty of your recipes and none of them dissapoint! Next on my list will be middle eastern shredded lamb 😀
Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know you enjoyed this Ysg! Really great to hear 🙂 N xx
Hi Nagi,
I plan on making this dish tonight. My bf loves spicy food, is there any way to add some more spice to this? I was thinking about adding some red pepper flakes but open to any other suggestions! Thanks!
throw in some of these. truly add a brazillian undercurrent to the flavour profile and can fire up the heat….
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped bottled malagueta peppers
i found them at our local discount grocery store. not hard to find.
Oooooh!!!
Gosh YES to any form of spices to up the heat!!! Red pepper flakes is perfect, or pure chilli powder (not American Chili Powder which has other things other than chilli in it). 🙂
Tried this stew for the first time tonight and I’d like to say it was delicious. I’ll definitely be doing it again.
Yessss! So great you enjoyed this one Joan, thanks for letting me know! N xx
Nagi, you’ve done it again. This recipe was SO GOOD!!! I took the advice of one of the reviewers and added some extra vegetables (carrots and zucchini) and used diced tomatoes rather than whole stewed tomatoes. I don’t know what the traditional Brazilian stew tastes like but this is so good!!!
That’s so fantastic to hear Stephanie! Thank you for letting me know! N xx
Does this works with salmon????
Absolutely!
Hi Nagi,
You mentioned this works well with Calamari and prawns. Do you think it would work ok with just calamari?
Hi Kerryn! Yes I think it will work a treat with calamari. I would probably cook it for the whole time in the broth to make it tender – might need 30 minutes depending on how large you cut it 🙂