Brazilian fish stew ‘moqueca’
Moqueca is a Brazilian fish dish in a sauce of tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, ginger, lime juice, cilantro and coconut milk. It is traditionally served over rice.
The beauty of this dish from the chef’s point of view is that most of the preparation may be done well in advance, with only a few minutes of cooking time at the end. This makes it a great dinner party dish — you can be with your guests and not in the kitchen.
For best results, use the fillets of a white, firm-fleshed fish, such as cod (cabillaud), halibut (flétan), haddock (églefin), pollock (colin) or, if you can afford it, monkfish (lotte). If you like, you can also include shrimp, mussels or other shellfish.
For the peppers, you can either use red bell peppers or, if available, their longer, thinner cousins, known over here simply as poivrons longs. Like bell peppers, they are not particularly spicy. The heat in this dish comes from cayenne.
The quantities below will serve 4 people.
1-1/4 pound (550 g) firm white fish fillets (see above)
5 cloves garlic, peeled
a 1-inch (2.5 cm) knob of fresh ginger
2 limes
1 red bell pepper or two long red peppers (see above)
2 medium onions
3 large tomatoes
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1-2 dried cayenne peppers, crushed
1/2 cup (125 ml) water (optional)
1 cup (250 ml) coconut milk
1 cup white rice
1 bunch fresh cilantro
Begin by marinating the fish. Rinse and dry the fillets. Cut into large chunks. Transfer to a medium bowl. Peel and mince one clove of garlic, and add to the bowl. Peel and grate the ginger and add. Squeeze one lime over the bowl. Stir to blend.
Refrigerate the fish in its marinade while you proceed with the recipe.
Now make the sauce. Core the pepper(s) and slice thinly. Peel and mince the onions. Peel and mince the remaining four cloves of garlic. Chop up the tomatoes. (If you like, you can blanch the tomatoes and slip off their skins before chopping, but this isn’t essential.)
Heat the olive oil to sizzling in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add the pepper slices, turn down the heat to medium and sauté, stirring, for five minutes. Add the onion and garlic. Sauté, stirring, for five minutes more. Add the tomatoes, salt and crushed cayenne.
Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and form a sauce. This can take up to 30 minutes depending on the ripeness of the tomatoes. If your tomatoes are not very juicy, add 1/2 cup water to ensure that the sauce doesn’t stick and burn.
When the sauce is ready, you can pause the recipe if you like.
Shortly before you’re ready to serve, put a pot of rice on the stove.
If the sauce has cooled off, bring it back to a simmer. Add the coconut milk and the juice of the second lime. Stir. Nestle the fish in the sauce. Add the marinade. Simmer gently until the fish is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
While the fish is cooking, chop the cilantro, discarding the stems. Add about half of the chopped leaves to the pot, reserving the rest for decoration.
Serve the fish stew in shallow bowls over rice, topped with cilantro. Serves 4.
