Hello everybody! This past week was Brazilian week. There are a ton of meat-filled Brazilian dishes, but I was hoping to find something a little lighter. A popular dish that kept popping up in my searches was Moqueca – a fish stew! That was perfect since I had tilapia in my freezer from my fish tacos last week. This dish definitely has potential, but I messed some stuff up by running out of spices and forgetting to start cooking the rice causing the shrimp to overcook… oh well, can’t win all the time.

I adapted recipes from Maria’s Cookbook and this recipe.

Recipe:

juice of 2 limes

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1/2 lb. raw shrimp

1/2 lb. tilapia fillets

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 green bell pepper, sliced (note: use 1 red, 1 green if you make it)

2 cooking onions, sliced

3 roma tomatoes, diced (they were very small)

2 garlic cloves, diced

5 green onions, chopped

1/2 bunch cilantro

1/2 tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. paprika

1 can coconut milk + some water (I recommend using 2 cans w/ no water)

Directions:

Mix lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a bag. Add shrimp and tilapia, cover well, and marinate for ~1 hour. The shrimp will start to turn red, and I’m 95% sure this is because of the acid in the lime juice. Heat oil in a pot. Put in peppers, onions, and tomatoes, and cook for a few minutes. Add garlic, and cook for another minute or two until you can smell the garlic. I also put the shrimp shells into the pot to start adding some flavor early on. Make sure everything else is prepared before the fish goes in – add fish and shrimp with the marinade to the pot. Leave them on top of the peppers and onions so they don’t overcook on the bottom of the pan (my first mistake). Mix coconut milk, paprika, and chili power. Cover the fish with the green onions, cilantro, and coconut milk mixture right after putting the fish in. Hopefully this well help keep the fish cooler so it doesn’t cook too rapidly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove the shrimp shells before serving immediately with rice.