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’m just saying Nagi, you’re not getting my husband! His words “this tastes fantastic “! Used Ling and made cucumber salad as accompaniment.
😂 Love this! Sounds like he’s keeping you after cooking this recipe for him 😉
Great to have a new fish recipe for weeknights, we love this Brazilian dish, Thanks Nagi! Will your site enable us to save our favourite dishes some time in the future? You simply have too many great dishes to remember them all of by heart 😉
Hi Sjoerd – you can favourite the recipes by clicking on the heart on the bottom right of your screen – it will save to a favourites folder for you! N x
Wow! I am not a big fish fan, but I loved this stew. My husband, adult son, and I ate the entire pot. It was so tasty. We used. French. Bread to. Stop. Up. Sauce, so delicious. Thank you so much.
I’m os glad it was a hit Patricia!! Bread is ALWAYS a must!
Made this yesterday with salmon. Very tasty. I have added 1 teaspoon garam massala and a cup of cubed sweet potato….mmmmm…this recipe goes into my collection 🙂
thank you Nagi!!
Greta idea Rita, sounds divine!
Hi Nagi.
We are not lovers of coconut milk…rather my husband hates the flavour..I dont really mind. What can I use instead.?
Hi Marie, you could substitute with cream, but it’s just not quite the same – N x
What would you say gives it better flavour? Chicken broth or Vegetable broth? As I can’t find fish broth anywhere. I live in Canada!
Hi Vee, either will work fine 🙂
Hello Nagi,
Your recipes are always my go to recipes as it’s always filled with so much flavour. I had a question, I live in Canada and I can’t seem to find fish broth anywhere. Is seafood broth the same thing?
Seafood broth will work – or chicken or even vegetable stock ❤️
Hi Nagi! I made your Brazilian Fish Stew for my husband who likes fish. I on the other hand really dislike anything “fishy”. I was blown away with the flavorful sauce and the Mahi-Mahi I used as per your instructions! I helped myself to to seconds and then I actually licked my plate! You can be sure I will definately be making this at the soup kitchen! We often have an assortment of donated fish in our freezers and struggle with what to do with it……NOT A PROBLEM ANYMORE!
PS: Nicole, a fellow cook at our soup kitchen now uses your recipes too! There’s a whole lot of good eating in the neighborhood!
What what a great compliment!! Thanks so much Diane!
Good luck keeping dear DOZER out of the spa 😆!
I know right!!! 😒
Just made this and OMG!!! It was superb! In other words,
Foi fantástico!!!
Nagi, you are brilliant.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Brian, thanks so much for letting me know!
I would love to know how are you going to keepMr D out of the spa? to him water is water, Love it.
Ha! I haven’t thought that far ahead yet Vera! 😂
Hi! I have been a loyal fan, your recipes are life changing! As for this recipe, I was thinking about buying a whole fish and filleting it, and using the scraps for fish broth (as it isn’t so available in stores). What kind of whole fish would you recommend buying for this recipe?
Hi Leanna, any sturdy white fish – it all depends on what’s easily available for you!
Hi Nagi, there is a variety of recipes called “moqueca”. My favorite one is called “moqueca baiano”, i.e. the version from the state of Bahia. No curry in it, but palm oil instead, if possible with the pulp. Palm oil/pulp mixed with coconut milk is fantastic. And mentioning palm oil/pulp, I would suggest to consider a recipe of “muambe”, an African dish, normally prepared with chicken. Give it a try!
Sounds divine Stefan!! I’ll definitely have to try!
Hi Nagi, I came here through Eha (who thought I was the other Stefan that commented on this post). This fish stew looks great and I think the most important thing you do right is to briefly sear and then remove the fish, and only reheat it at the end. This will ensure the fish stays moist, rather than countless recipes that tell you to boil for 20 minutes with the fish still in. I think this could even be made with kingfish (my favorite) if you turn off the heat when reheating the fish in the soup. This looks great and I will look into makIng this myself. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Nagi, can I use frozen codfish? Thaw it first? X
That will be fine, always thaw first before using – N x
This looks so delicious and I cannot wait to try it. Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes with us :o).
You’re so welcome Lorraine!
Hi Nagi.
Can this be frozen?
Thanks xx
Hi Mel, you might find that because of the coconut milk, this will separate when thawed unfortunately – N x
Knowing how Dozer loves water, it’s only a matter of time until he’s in that spa unless you keep a cover on it. LOL xx
The pool has a fence, he’s banished unless supervised 😂
Hi Nagi,
I am allergic to coconut milk. What can I replace it with?
Hi Lee, you could use cream, the flavour just wont be quite the same ❤️
Happy New Decade Nagi!
A great post that brings back fond food memories of traveling in the Bahia Brazil and dinning on moqueca made from barracuda and dipping cilantro garlic bread into the sauce.
Thanks for the recipe, I’ll be giving it a go with cod and prawns up this way.
I say just add a second filter and let the Dozer splash away…OK, maybe two more filters.
I’m going to need at least 10 Ron!! I’m so glad I could conjure up such awesome memories ❤️
What fish stock to you consider good in Australia? I can’t wait to try! Thanks!
Hi Clare, I use Campbells, it works perfectly in this curry – N x