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!!!
I made this using yuzu ponzu and salmon, and it tasted great!
My favorite fish is salmon and pickerel equally, yummy
Hi Nagi, I am second generation Japanese born and grown up in Brazil. I live in Espirito Santo and we have a very traditional Nationwide fish dish called Moqueca Capixaba. Your recipe is a version of Moqueca baiana. If interested I can pass the recipe, which is simple but just…yummy!!
Hello!
Was just wondering if I could make this with only shrimp? If yes how do you do it – do you sear shrimp before adding to sauce? Can this be made in advance and reheated?
Thank you so much! I love your recipes!!!
Made this for a small dinner party of 4 and everyone was raving about it ! Sooooo yummy I followed the recipe to a T and it was perfect. I used cod x
Another home run Nagi! It had a wonderful depth of flavor. We used halibut but I imagine lots of seafood could be incorporated into this awesome sauce. It calls for paprika. We have several kinds. Do you have a preference?
Hi! I read your note about the palm oil, and there is a detail about that….
The traditional recipe of Moqueca Baiana uses RED palm oil: it’s totally different from the regular palm oil that comes from Asia.
Red palm oil comes from Africa or Brazil – the red palm tree was introduced in Brazil through the African slaves, during the colonization and slavery period.
It’s NOT the regular palm oil.
So good!!!! I’ve never cooked a fish stew before. I used ling which I’ve also never used before but that was what was available at the supermarket. I’m making a conscious effort to try cooking new things and this was a total success. The kids, 7 and 9, cleaned their plates and hubby raved about it and licked the pan clean afterwards!
*I only added a little cayenne pepper, but I think I’ll add more next time- we like spicy!
First time I made this was with the Cayenne Pepper – it was delicious with lots of the anticipated hot kick. Just made it without – even though I normally like spicy, This recipe is really good without the CP. Fabulous flavours somehow more delicate and enjoyable. Thanks (again!) Nagi.
Recommend. Another great recipe.
I did use half a can of coconut cream and thickened it up so it more curry like than stew like.
Hi Nagi
Could I use coconut oil instead of palm oil
Oh Wow – this was amazing! I wanted to bulk up the veg, so I included in cabbage when I added the broth liquid, and then added frozen peas when the fish went back in. Another one on the must make again list 🙂 Thank you!
Perfect Jo! Sounds great! N x
Do you think you could try this with chicken? My family does not like fish. Love your recipes!
Yes definitely, I’d use thigh 🙂 N x
Thankyou Nagi an absolutely beautiful dish. That sauce! Yumm
I’ve made lot’s of your recipes and loved them all. Just made this one, added king prawns and a splash of red wine and served with mashed potatoes, it was delicious 😋
Hi,
Last night my Husband made Your recipe with help from me ofcourse😀
Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca Baiana)
This went down a treat for the family, so tasty and full of flavour.
Very easy to make,
Everyone loveddddd it!
We had it with
Malawian Nsima pronounced en-see-ma is a thick porridge made of corn that can be shaped into mounds or patties. It is the national dish of Malawi and served with a number of different types of sauces
So happy to have come across your website.
Kind Regards
Hi Nagi this looks delicious! Is it possible to cut out the coconut or use a substitute?
Hi Ana, it won’t be quite the same but you could sub with regular cream or evaporated milk if you prefer. N x
Made this with Recipe Tin’s Coconut Lime Rice, some broccolini, and garlic bread. Fantastic! I left out the peppers/capsicum because I don’t like that, but otherwise I did 1.5 recipes and we all licked our bowls (except the 10-year old, who declared the fish fantastic but even with 1/3 of the cayenne paper was too spicy for her). Next time I’ll leave out the cayenne entirely. This was a winner.
10 out of 10. Absolutely delicious. A new family favourite
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Phill! N x
Hi Nagi, this is your millionteenth recipe I’ve tried and you’ve become my go-to for any thing food. I wanted to know if I can use fresh tomatoes instead of sauce or canned tomatoes.
Hi Zehra, you can use fresh – but you’ll need to blanch and de-skin them before chopping and adding to the stew! N x
Even though I made a blunder (mixed 1.5 tbsp of sugar instead of tsp) yet the sauce tasted surprisingly good. Both My 4 year old and my wife loved it. Big thumbs up.