Brazilian Fish Stew Recipe: How to Make Moqueca Baiana

Fish stew is a dish of fish (and often other seafood such as shellfish) cooked together with vegetables and aromatics. Unlike a beef stew, which might spend hours in a slow cooker, fish stew cooks quickly, making it ideal for weeknight dinners. With plenty of flavors to explore—from tropical moqueca from Brazil, to spicy maeuntang from Korea, to garlicky French bourride—there's a fish stew for everyone.

Almost every coastal region has its take on fish stew. Some of the best known around the world include:

1. 1. Bouillabaisse: Bouillabaisse is a classic Provençal dish of fish cooked in boiling water and plenty of olive oil until a velvety, emulsified broth forms. The cooked fish—such as red scorpionfish (a type of rockfish), anglerfish, weever, John Dory, gurnard, sea hen, whiting, mullet, eel, wrasse, bream—is served separately from the broth, which is strained over toasted bread.
2. 2. Bourride: This fish stew from Marseille, France, is made with halibut or monkfish, clams or shrimp, white wine, fresh parsley, and a garlic-packed aioli.
3. 3. Moqueca baiana: Moqueca is a Brazilian seafood stew from Bahia, where most food is cooked in dende oil (red palm oil). The dende oil gives Brazilian fish stew a bright orange hue. Made with prawns or large shrimp and white fish such as grouper, mahi-mahi, tilapia, or swordfish, moqueca gets its creaminess from coconut milk. It is usually garnished with fresh cilantro and served with pirão, a porridge made from manioc and fish stock.
4. 4. Cioppino: San Francisco is famous for this Italian-American fish stew, which typically features clams or mussels, crab, shrimp, and white fish (such as sea bass) cooked with dry white wine, clam juice, fennel, and diced tomatoes. It's often served with a garnish of parsley and a hunk of crusty bread.
5. 5. Maeuntang: This spicy Korean fish stew is made with whole fish (such as sea bass, cod, fluke, red snapper, or flounder), Korean radish, Korean green onion, dried anchovies, gochugaru (chile flakes), gochujang (fermented chile paste), and doenjang (fermented bean paste). It's typically served with white rice.