Bahian Fish and Prawn Moqueca
The fish stew from Bahia: fish steaks marinated in lime and garlic, layered with bell peppers and tomato, and cooked in coconut milk with dendê oil. The broth is enhanced with a stock made from the prawn heads.
Ingredients
- 800 g firm-fleshed fish in thick steaks (John Dory, pollock, or sea bass)
- 8 whole raw prawns
- 1 lime or lemon (juice)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 handful of cilantro
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1/2 green bell pepper
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 1 green onion (scallion)
- 2 plum tomatoes
- Hot chili to taste (malagueta, jalapeño, or yellow chili)
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 2 tbsp dendê oil
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Salt to taste
Method
- 1
Cut the fish into thick steaks. If it has a central backbone, break it by pulling with your hands instead of forcing the knife.
- 2
Drizzle the steaks with lime juice, season with minced garlic and a few cilantro leaves, add salt, and leave them in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- 3
Meanwhile, clean the prawns: remove the legs and shell, leaving the last ring with the tail. Remove the heads from four of them and set them aside.
- 4
Make an incision in the back and remove the digestive tract. If a coral substance appears, it is the roe and should be left: that is where the best flavor is.
- 5
Sauté the four reserved heads in a splash of olive oil. When they change color, cover with 240 ml of hot water and boil for 15 minutes over low heat, crushing them with a spoon. Strain and reserve that stock.
- 6
Heat two tablespoons of olive oil and one of dendê in the pot (casserole). The dendê gives the characteristic carmine color but is heavy: use it in moderation.
- 7
Sear the steaks slightly, superficially, over medium-high heat. They will finish cooking in the stew. Set them aside with the marinade juice.
- 8
Cut the bell peppers into slices, one tomato into slices and the other into cubes, and the onion and the white part of the green onion into small cubes, setting the green leaves aside separately.
- 9
Sauté the onion and the white part of the green onion over medium heat until translucent, and add the cubed tomato for 1 more minute.
- 10
Assemble in layers: one of green bell pepper, the fish steaks on top, then the hot chili and the red bell pepper, and the tomato slices on top.
- 11
Pour in the coconut milk and the prawn stock. When it comes to a boil, cover and cook for 10 minutes.
- 12
Uncover, add the headless prawns and the chopped green onion leaves on top. Finish with the four whole prawns and a drizzle more of dendê.
- 13
Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes more, until the prawns change color completely.
- 14
Finish with cilantro leaves and bring the pot to the table, which is how it is served. Serve with white rice.