Moqueca - Welcome to Brazil

1. Rinse and pat dry the fish and cut into 2 inch peices. Place in a bowl. Add salt, zest from half the lime and 1 tablespoon lime juice. Massage lightly to coat all pieces well. Set aside.

2. In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and salt, and sauté 2-3 minutes. Turn heat down to medium, add carrot, bell pepper, garlic and jalapeno and cook 4-5 more minutes. Add tomato paste, spices and stock. Mix and bring to a simmer and add tomatoes. Cover and simmer gently on medium low for 5 mintues or until carrots are tender.

3. Add the coconut milk and taste and add more salt if necessary.

4. Nestle the fish in the stew and simmer gently until it’s cooked through, about 4-6 minutes.  Spoon the flavorful coconut broth over the fish and cook until desired doneness or longer for thicker pieces. ( You can also finish this in a 350F oven).

5. Taste and adjust salt and squeeze with lime.

6. To serve, serve over rice, sprinkle with cilantro or scallions and a squeeze of lime.

7. Drizzle with a little olive oil if you like.

For this weeks dish I took my tastebuds to Brazil, and while I was dying to do a Feijoada (a bean and pork stew) my IBS wasn't going to handle it so I decided to go for something a bit gentler - a Moqueca, or fish stew. My dad has been to Brazil a few times and my sister lived there for 6 months and I have only ever heard good things about their food, and I must say that when I was researching it I was very exited to try more than one of the dishes so I will definitely be returning and I can't wait to actually go to Brazil!

This fish stew was very simple to make and I must confess that I put a lot more vegetables in to this than the recipe originally said - but I was really craving something rich in vegetables so here goes. The main inspiration for my dish came from this recipe.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 onion- finely diced

• 2 carrots diced

• 1 red bell pepper, diced

• 4 garlic cloves- smashed but kept whole

• 1 chilli pepper chopped small

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 2 teaspoons paprika

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 cup fish or chicken stock (if using chicken stock I would recommend adding a dash of fish sauce)

• 2 cups of diced tomatoes ( preferably fresh cherry tomatoes - if using tinned add a couple of fresh ones)

• 2 400ml cans of coconut milk

• juice of 2 limes

• salt to taste

• other vegetables to taste - I used aubergine, courgette, baby corn and mushrooms.

• White fish to taste (Codd or Haddock)

• Prawns to taste

To serve:

• Cooked white Rice

• 1 lime

• ½ cup chopped coriander

Method

1. Cut the fish into 2cm pieces and marinate in 1tbsp of lime juice and salt. Leave to one side.

2. In a large saucepan over medium heat add the oil, once it's hot add the onion and bell pepper. Sautée for 5-6 minutes until the onion begins to soften. Add the garlic, carrot, any vegetables that will take a while to cook and chilli, cook for a further 10 minutes.

3. Add the tomato paste, spices and stock. Bring to a simmer and then add the tomato paste. Cover and simmer gently until the carrots are tender.

4. Add the coconut milk and about 2 tsps of salt. Taste the stew and add lime juice to taste - you may also want to add a bit more salt.

5. Add the fish, prawns and quick cooking vegetables and cook for 3-4 minutes.

6. Taste again and adjust salt and lime.

7. Serve over white rice with a sprinkle of coriander and a wedge of lime on the side.