Brazilian Fish Stew or Moqueca, my family’s favorite fish stew. Thick delicious spicy fish stew – hot, zesty, coco-nutty, full of sweet pepper goodness and perfectly grilled fish! 

This Brazilian Fish Stew is made the way we like it, pumped up in spice, with lotsa red peppers and tomatoes & packed full of oomph. Perfect on its own or with crusty Artisan Bread or serve it on Coconut Blue Pea Lime Rice the way we like it. 

Served on Coconut Blue Pea Lime Rice …

For the Sugar Crumble household, this Brazilian Fish Stew came in a lockdown moment. Whilst some discover tap dancing on roof tops and others acapella singing as the new family ‘Von Trappe’, you could say this Brazilian Fish Stew found us. 

It’s not Fish Curry!

Watching Street Food on Netflix, with the daily fresh catch brought back by her fisherman husband,  Dona Suzana, a feisty lady from Salvador in Brazil cooked up a storm and sold her delicious Moqueca fish stew for a living. Her Moqueca was simply spectacular, and people from all over Brazil and the world came to try it. This is a humble cooking fairy tale; she is so famous she now has her very own Netflix feature.  

Delicious Moqueca … slurrpp

As we watched her friends and customers from all over the world, lip smacking and tucking in huge servings of her fish stew on rice, suddenly Hubs could not resist and said to me “This fish Moqueca looks incredible, can I pleaaasseee have it for my birthday?” 

And THE REST IS HISTORY.

Inspired and excited, short of fishing for our own catch and using red dende oil (extracted from the fruit of the palm tree), we followed much of what we saw on TV, googled several versions online and finally tweaked it to our taste. See my tip #4 on spice below. 

This has become our go-to fish stew recipe for parties and family gatherings and it is always a hit. Truth be told, everyone who first sees this Brazilian Fish Stew thinks it’s gonna taste like fish curry, but it is nothing like it!

Tastes nothing like curry!

Quote Beautiful (Daughter No.2)  –

“I’d never drink curry but this stew I love to savor, a spoonful at a time…”

This Brazilian Fish Stew descends from a lot of African influences as Salvador had many African immigrants in its history. It is a hot sweet pepper fish stew with a zesty piquant tang that perfectly complements the grilled fresh catch. The taste is Latin American, it is BRAZIL! 💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻

Chocked full of bell pepper & vegetable goodness

We only make this Brazilian Fish Stew in large pots – cooked always with love, the taste of comfort, the taste of love, the taste of family. Hope you enjoy it like we do!

BRAZILIAN FISH STEW (MOQUECA) STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL

If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here 😊

Tips

#1 Type of fish

Use firm white fish that does not break easily. I used a white snapper; you can use any kind of snapper or other like halibut, cod, tilapia, barramundi can work too. We like every part of our fish but you can also use only fish fillet or your preferred fish part.

Use a firm white fish

#2 Grill or pan fry?

In most Moqueca recipes, the fish is typically first pan fried to seal in the taste and so that the fish does not break easily . For me, my poor fish frying skill has always been a bane. I generally require a good amount of oil so that the fish does not stick to the pan, and even then it usually still sticks a little and is terribly imperfect 🙄

Poor at frying fish? Grill it …

For this recipe, I prefer to grill the fish in the oven; I didn’t need to add more oil and cooking it in the oven also meant less splutter and cleaning! Whether grill or fry, use the method that is most convenient and efficient for yourself to make this dish. 

#3 Red bell pepper 

The taste of this Brazilian fish stew is intimately intertwined with the sweetness of red bell peppers. Red peppers are said to be the sweetest and juiciest bell peppers. They are fully ripe and the most mature and contain more nutrients than the other peppers (including vitamins A, vitamins C and lycopene). If you’re going to choose just one color to eat, then red pepper should be on your plate! 

Don’t skip the red peppers! 

Whilst most of the bell pepper is sautéd till soft and disappears into the fish stew, I always like to keep some to be added at the end (when the fish goes in) for the bell pepper crunch and color. If you would like to add other vegetables, remember – keep the red peppers. 

#4 Spicy much?

When we first made this Brazilian Fish Stew, it simply tasted like a mild red pepper coconut curry. It simply wasn’t spicy enough for our Singaporean taste buds. It lacked that “KAPOW” if you know what I mean.  So we pumped up the spice and added more chilli and jalapeño pepper. To adjust the spicy-ness, feel free to discard more or less of the chilli and jalapeño seeds. 

The “KAPOW” is in the seeds …

Finally, instead of the usual cayenne red pepper flakes, the Sugar Crumble substituted her own ultimate spice ingredient in this Brazilian Fish Stew and …. *drum roll* … 

It’s Lao Gan Ma (LGM) chilli fermented soy beans! 

Our ultimate spice … chilli fermented beans

Once we added the latter together with the extra chillies and jalapeño, the taste fully transformed. It added such piquancy and complexity to the flavours, hand on heart I believe no one would mistake this for a fish curry. Adjust the spice to your preference of course but if you want Kapow and Oomph! … DO NOT skip the LGM chilli soya beans.

#5 Make ahead 

I typically make this stew on the same day. I won’t recommend making this overnight but if time is tight, the bell pepper stew can be cooked first thing early in the day. Before serving, grill the fish fresh, add it to the stew and heat it up till it is nicely simmering. (Note: the fish is already cooked so do not over-boil or it might start to break up).

Squeeze a exuberant dash of lime juice along with a bunch of fresh coriander and serve immediately.

Did you make this? I would love to know how it turned out. Tell me more! 😊  Please leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram, FB hashtag #thesugarcrumble

Print Recipe

Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca)

Brazilian Fish Stew or Moqueca, our favorite fish stew. Thick delicious spicy fish stew - hot, zesty, coco-nutty, full of sweet pepper goodness and perfectly grilled fish! 

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Marinating time45 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Brazilian

Keyword: FIsh Stew, Moqueca

Servings: 10 persons

Author: Kai

Ingredients

Vegetables

• 2 red peppers (fry half & add half fresh)
• 2 red chillies
• 1 jalapeño pepper
• 3 large tomatoes
• 3 large onions
• 1 bulb garlic
• A bunch of fresh coriander

Fish & seasoning

• 600 g fish fillet
• 400 g fish head
• 400 g bony fish
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp oil
• Juice of one kaffir lime

Stew liquids & seasoning

• 3 1/2 tbsp fermented chilli soya bean (老干妈豆豉辣酱 - check link above)
• 3 tbsp cumin
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp brown sugar or white sugar

Liquids

• 500 ml chicken stock
• 750 ml coconut milk
• 1 can tomato puree (410g)

Instructions

• Season the fish with salt, pepper, oil and juice of one kaffir lime. Chill in the fridge and let it marinate for ~45min to an hour.
• Transfer the fish to a baking tray. Spread it out evenly and bake @180C for 15 min on each side. Once the fish is done, switch off heat, set it aside and start on the stew.
• Sauté the garlic and onions until nicely brown and translucent. Then, add half the red sweet pepper and all of the chilli and jalapeño pepper slices together with the Lao Gan Ma fermented chilli soya beans and fry till the peppers are soft and fragrant.
• Add in the tomatoes, cumin and paprika and sauté till the vegetables are nicely aromatic. Add in the coconut milk, tomato purée and chicken stock for the broth. Season with salt,pepper and brown sugar and let the stew cook on medium heat till just simmering. Do not boil or the coconut milk might curdle.
• Add in the grilled fish and the remaining red peppers. Bring it again to a brisk simmer before taking it off heat. Squeeze the juice of one or half a kaffir lime into the fish stew and garnish generously with fresh coriander. Serve immediately.

Video

Notes

If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here 😊

 

Tips

#1 Type of fish

Use firm white fish that does not break easily. I used a white snapper; you can use any kind of snapper or other like halibut, cod, tilapia, barramundi can work too. We like every part of our fish but you can also use only fish fillet or your preferred fish part.

 

#2 Grill or pan fry?

In most Moqueca recipes, the fish is typically first pan fried to seal in the taste and so that the fish does not break easily . For me, my poor fish frying skill has always been a bane. I generally require a good amount of oil so that the fish does not stick to the pan, and even then it usually still sticks a little and is terribly imperfect 🙄

For this recipe, I prefer to grill the fish in the oven; I didn’t need to add more oil and cooking it in the oven also meant less splutter and cleaning! Whether grill or fry, use the method that is most convenient and efficient for yourself to make this dish.

 

#3 Red bell pepper

The taste of this Brazilian fish stew is intimately intertwined with the sweetness of red bell peppers. Red peppers are said to be the sweetest and juiciest bell peppers. They are fully ripe and the most mature and contain more nutrients than the other peppers (including vitamins A, vitamins C and lycopene). If you're going to choose just one color to eat, then red pepper should be on your plate!

Whilst most of the bell pepper is sautéd till soft and disappears into the fish stew, I always like to keep some to be added at the end (when the fish goes in) for the bell pepper crunch and color. If you would like to add other vegetables, remember - keep the red peppers.

 

#4 Spicy much?

When we first made this Brazilian Fish Stew, it simply tasted like a mild red pepper coconut curry. It simply wasn’t spicy enough for our Singaporean taste buds. It lacked that “KAPOW” if you know what I mean.  So we pumped up the spice and added more chilli and jalapeño pepper. To adjust the spicy-ness, feel free to discard more or leas of the chilli and jalapeño seeds.

Finally, instead of the usual cayenne red pepper flakes, the Sugar Crumble substituted her own ultimate spice ingredient in this Brazilian Fish Stew and …. *drum roll* … 

It’s Lao Gan Ma (LGM) chilli fermented soy beans!

Once we added the latter together with the extra chillies and jalapeño, the taste fully transformed. It added such piquancy and complexity to the flavours, hand on heart I believe no one would mistake this for a fish curry. Adjust the spice to your preference of course but if you want Kapow and Oomph! … DO NOT skip the LGM chilli soya beans

 

#5 Make ahead

I typically make this stew on the same day. I won’t recommend making this overnight but if time is tight, the bell pepper stew can be cooked first thing early in the day. Before serving, grill the fish fresh, add it to the stew and heat it up till it is nicely simmering. (Note: the fish is already cooked so do not over-boil or it might start to break up).

Squeeze a exuberant dash of lime juice along with a bunch of fresh coriander and serve immediately.

 

Did you make this? I would love to know how it turned out. Tell me more! 😊  Please leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram, FB hashtag #thesugarcrumble