[I made the recipe tonight. I'd rate it 10 out of 10! I stuck strictly to the recipe, and in the end, I did add salt, paprika, pepper flakes & freshly ground pepper. I used Cod for the fish and bought 1.5 lbs. of it. I have enough for another meal. I also made the rice just as the recipe shows. An excellent dish! I just happened to find this blog, and I'll be returning to it frequently. From the blog: [link at the end]



It seems like every culture with a coastline has their version of a seafood stew. The French have bouillabaise, the Portuguese bacalhoada, New England “chowdah” and San Francisco cioppino. In Brazil, they make moqueca (pronounced “mo-KEH-kah”), a stew made with fish, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, and in the northern state of Bahia, coconut milk. My first encounter with moqueca was a salmon version of the stew prepared by Brazilian blogger Fernanda of Chucrute com Salsicha. So good! We love making fish stew, but had never thought to use a base of coconut milk. Since then, every Brazilian I’ve met, when the conversation turns to food (as it invariably does), their eyes light up at the mention of moqueca.



A few words about this recipe. First, it’s easy. As exotic as it may sound, you probably have most of the ingredients already in your pantry (you’ll want to get fresh fish), and with prep, making rice, the total time involved is less than an hour. Second, since this is an American blog, 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. Halibut would hold up better. 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.
To any Brazilians who might be reading this blog (Olé Brasil!) if you have a favorite moqueca recipe, please tell us about it the comments.


http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes...ian_fish_stew/