Brazilian moqueca, a fish stew made with firm white fish, onions, garlic, bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, and coconut milk. Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. All fish recipes has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.

We love making fish stew, but had never thought to use a base of coconut milk. A few words about this recipe. Second, since this is an American website, we’re dealing with ingredients we can get here. True Bahian moqueca is made with a fish caught off the coast of northern Brazil. In our case, we’ll want to use a firm white fish. I used cod for this batch, which is barely firm enough. You can also add shrimp or other shell fish to this stew.

Palm oil is traditionally used in making moqueca, but it’s hard to come by here, so we are using olive oil. Finally, adjust the seasonings to taste! If it doesn’t seem flavorful enough to you, you need to add more salt. And probably a little more lime or lemon juice and paprika too. Place fish pieces in a bowl, add the minced garlic and lime juice so that the pieces are well coated. Sprinkle generously all over with salt and pepper.

Keep chilled while preparing the rest of the soup. If you are planning on serving the soup with rice, start on the rice. Bring a couple cups of water to a boil. Heat one Tbsp of olive oil in a medium saucepan on medium high heat. 2 onion and cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds more, until the garlic is fragrant.