Brazilian recipe
How to make Moqueca
The coast of Bahia (moqueca baiana) and Espírito Santo (moqueca capixaba), each with its own version
A fish or prawn stew cooked with tomatoes, onions, peppers, lime and coriander. The Bahian moqueca adds coconut milk and dendê, red palm oil. The version from Espírito Santo is lighter, made with olive oil and annatto instead of palm oil, and is always cooked in a black clay pot.
Ingredients
- 800 g firm white fish, such as cod, hake or monkfish, cut into large pieces (or half fish and half raw peeled prawns)
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 onion, sliced into rings
- 1 red and 1 yellow pepper, sliced into rings
- 3 ripe tomatoes, sliced
- 400 ml coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons dendê (red palm oil); if you cannot find it, use olive oil with 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika
- A handful of coriander (cilantro), chopped
- Salt, and fresh chilli to taste
- White rice and farofa, to serve
Method
- Season the fish with the lime juice, garlic and salt and leave it in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- In a wide pan, make a layer of half the onion, peppers and tomatoes. Lay the fish on top and cover with the rest of the vegetables and half the coriander.
- Pour over the coconut milk and the dendê. Cover and cook over a medium-low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, without stirring, until the fish is cooked through and flakes easily.
- Taste for salt, add chilli if you like, scatter over the rest of the coriander and serve with rice and farofa.
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Both states are proud of their own version. Food historians trace moqueca back to Indigenous fish cooked in leaves, with Portuguese and African ingredients added later.
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