Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca)
Red palm oil gives this gluten-free stew its unique Brazilian taste.
Brazil is a great source of recipes for the gluten-free cook. Three traditional dishes you will find all over Brazil—moqueca (white fish or shrimp stew), feijoada (stewed black beans and meat), and churrasco (grilled meats)—are gluten free. And the condiment called farofa—bowls or shakers of which adorn every dining table in the country—is made of toasted cassava flour, which also has no gluten. (Of course, Brazil’s national cocktail, the mixture of lime juice, sugar, and cachaça known as the caipirinha, is gluten free, so bottoms up!)
Moqueca is a favorite of the country’s home cooks as well, because it is so easy to make with ingredients that are readily available there: red palm oil, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro, limes, peppers, coconut milk, and filets of a firm, white-fleshed fish. The ingredient that gives this dish its unique Brazilian flavor is the red palm oil—or dendê oil, as it is called in Brazil. You can find red palm oil at stores that carry West African, Brazilian, or Filipino products (I found my current bottle in a small Asian grocery store), and reliable brands of organic red palm oil, such as Nutiva, are available online. If you want to substitute something like olive oil for the palm oil, of course it will still be delicious and nutritious, but will have a different taste.
Red palm oil is commonly used in the cuisine of Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia, which has been strongly influenced by the culture of West Africa, where red palm oil is also a staple (the oil I have now was imported from Ghana). Its beautiful burnt orange color comes from the loads of beta carotene it contains, making it a good source of vitamin A. By the way, don’t be alarmed if the oil is solid in its container—that’s the way it’s supposed to be! Just be prepared to scoop the oil with a spoon or squeeze it like toothpaste from the tube!
Dendê oil is commonly used in the cuisine of Brazil’s northeastern state of Bahia, which has been strongly influenced by the culture of West Africa, where red palm oil is also a staple.
From tasting this dish while traveling in Brazil, I can tell you it will taste slightly different from one restaurant to the next and and from home to home, largely because of the amount of dendê oil and coconut milk used. The use of peppers, both sweet and hot, also varies. For example, the moqueca recipe I’ve followed for years doesn’t include bell peppers, but when I researched the recipe for this post, I saw that almost everyone else, including those writing in Portuguese for the Brazilian market, includes sliced bell peppers. I decided it was a good addition, so bell peppers are in the recipe below. You can use whatever color bell peppers you like: red, green, yellow, or a mix of colors.
I was also surprised to see that most of the Portuguese-language recipes don’t list hot chili peppers but that those written in English for the U.S. market mostly do. Go figure. When I was traveling in Brazil, the spice level of the moquecas I tried varied—none of them were fiery hot, but some did have a dash of heat, while others were mild. So make your moqueca as mild or spicy as you like. I found a jar of dedo de moça chilis (a moderately hot pepper that is very popular in Brazil) at a Brazilian grocery store near me (also available online), but any type of hot pepper will do.
When cooking the fish, you want your fish to hold together as much as possible for serving, so be careful not to overcook it, especially since the most easily procured white fish in the U.S., cod and haddock, tend to flake apart with too much cooking. Ten minutes at a moderate simmer should be plenty to cook the fish without having it disintegrate. You can also try other types of fish, such as grouper or whiting, or use shrimp (or maybe both together!).
For serving, moqueca is traditionally served with rice and the aforementioned farofa as a condiment. Since farofa takes some getting used to—it has a grainy texture and doesn’t have much flavor (unless we’re talking about the gussied up versions, which are a different story and could be the subject of their own Substack)—I’ll recommend serving it with rice and a garnish of chopped fresh coriander leaves. If you really want to try farofa, you’ll find toasted cassava flour (also known as manioc) at the same place you found the red palm oil and dedo de moça peppers!
Ingredients:
2 pounds of filets of a firm, white-fleshed fish, such as cod, haddock, or grouper
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes or about 2 cups fresh chopped tomatoes (remove skins first if using fresh)
½ cup diced yellow onion
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 hot chili pepper, chopped (optional)
4 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves and stems
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 to 4 tablespoons red palm oil (or to taste)
2 cups thinly sliced bell peppers of your favorite colors
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Cut the fish into serving-sized pieces of approximately 2 to 3 inches and place them in a bowl
Put the cilantro, half of the diced tomatoes (1 cup), half of the diced onion (1/4 cup), the garlic, the optional chili pepper, the lime juice, ½ teaspoon black pepper, and ½ teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth (save the bell peppers for later)
Pour the pureed vegetables over the fish, toss thoroughly to ensure all the pieces are coated evenly, and let the fish marinate for 1 hour
Heat the red palm oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, add the remaining onions and tomato, the coconut milk, and the bell peppers and bring to a boil
Immediately upon reaching a boil, add the fish pieces and all of the marinade, stir to combine, bring to a simmer, and cover
Simmer the stew, covered, for about 10 minutes, just until the fish is cooked through (careful not to overcook)
Taste for seasoning and add salt, if needed
Serve with rice and garnish with chopped cilantro leaves (and farofa, if desired)
It looks absolutely fabulous! Mouth watering.
I happen to have some red palm oil that I picked up at a local Brazilian grocery- it seems this recipe was meant to be!!