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 looks absolutely flavourful.. Can’t wait to try ♥
Love to know what you think Arpita!!!
Methinks barra, snapper and bream would all be grand choices for this appetising ‘stew’ I simply cannot wait to make ! With the wonderful choice of fish and seafood in Australia, it is on my menus far more often than the more boring meat 🙂 ! Especially in the summer months !! Love the tad of cumin and paprika. Shall send this to a couple of food-loving Brazilian friends for their approval . . .
Perfect choices Eha! I just recently made this with snapper and it was divine!!
Yum. It was delicious. I doubled the recipe, used chicken broth instead of fish (didnt have any), only 1 can coconut milk (doubled recipe would’ve been 2) and went very light on the cayenne because I was feeding my 93 year old mom, her 94 year old sister and my super picky 21 year old daughter in addition to other “normal” family members. Served it with cilantro lime rice and your cucumber salad like suggested. Everyone loved the meal. Thank you!!!
That’s great to hear Marianne!
Poor Dozer no SPA😢
NAGI Brazilian fish stew is my favourite thanks for the recipe
He can still swim in the pool though 😂
Sounds quick and delicious. I think i know what i’ll be making tomorrow night. Thanks Nagi 🙂
Enjoy Mia!
Made this for my Brazilian boyfriend and he was impressed! His only suggestion was to add more coconut milk at the end, but I used olive oil so I’m thinking subbing coconut oil as suggested would end up being the same thing. Sooooo good I couldnt stop taste testing!!
I’m so glad you both loved it Chloe!!!
Thank you Nagi.This was fantastic!! My hubby and the 3 boys were all clapping. Such an amazing way to serve white fish. Beautifully balanced flavours withoit overpowering the fish. I did not have enough canned tomatoes so I blended some fresh tomatoes. Used codfish.Turned great.
Sounds like you nailed it Betty!
This was SO delicious and different from any other stews we’ve had! Thank you once again for knocking it out of the park!!
Wahoo! Thanks so much Sharleen!
Do you think if i do it on low heat it should be ok thinking of making it for a party and though i could make sauce before many thanks
Hi Gillian, you can definitely make the broth in advance then add the fish before serving – N x
Lovely can you freeze the sauce
Sure could Gillian, the only issue you might have is the coconut milk splitting from the sauce when reheated – N x
Hi Nagi, This looks delicious! Do you eat it with rice or bread?
WOWZERS!!!
Hey Nagi – another one of your delicious meals. This one will be added to regular meal rotation. Amazing flavour
Thanks again 🙂
That’s great Mish!
Can I use clam juice instead of fish stock… it is saltier so how do I tweak to compensate
Hi Margarita, I haven’t tried with clam juice and am not sure of how it differs to fish, I would water it down and just adjust the salt to taste once cooked – N x
I use Bar Harbor clam juice
(Rated #1 by Epicurious) when I make seafood soups/chowders or sauces, much like we usually use chicken broth to enhance flavor in other dishes.
Tried it with moqueca, turned out great.. fuller, more complex flavor. Pretty close to what I recall from when in Brasil.
Nagi! Is this dish suitable to freeze?
Hi Kate, I haven’t tried to freeze this one, I don’t think it would thaw very well unfortunately!
I’ve made it today and freezing won’t be needed! It was too good 🙂
Thank you for your recipes Nagi! 🙂
Question: Where have I made a mistake if the dish didn’t come out that thick? (>20 minutes on the stove)
Hi Nagi. My family loves this dish. I loaded it up with lime, coriander and green onion- or shallots as I know it in Qld- and it was a success. I believe the soup base would be great with any protein, perhaps chicken if seafood is a problem.
That’s so great to hear!!
Made pretty much as written but used coconut oil as one suggestion. Light on the spices and didn’t detract. Made traditional Brazilian rice and Caipirinha’s to go with. My husband deemed it a 10! Definitely a new favorite in my book and easy to make. Used Mahi Mahi as my fish and was prefect. Have to explore more Brazilion cuisine.
Thanks for sharing.
I love love love this recipe! I’ve made it a couple of times now and it never disappoints!!!
Woot! Thanks so much for the feedback Anne!
Damn, that was good. My 3-yr-old practically licked her plate clean and my husband and I fought over the last little bit left in the pot. This will definitely be in the regular rotation.
Wahoo! I love hearing that!
Hi
I spent some time in the Amazon basin at Manaus; what a great experince and great frech foods. Would it be sacralidge to add shirmp and maybe shellfish to this dish?
Wow you’re so lucky William! I haven’t ventured into that part of the world yet 🙂 Absolutely not a sacrilege at all. Do it!! 🙂 N x
Another total winner! This stew received rave reviews, thanks again Nagi. I added some carrots and butternut squash. Would cooking the fish in the broth alter the finished dish in anyway?