Brazillian Fish Stew

This is incredibly easy and delicious. If you love foods cooked in coconut milk, cilantro and lime juice, then this is it! It combines different national influences into one incredible dish. My husband and I love this dish. Though the original recipe called for the basic - cod and haddock, I actually tried it with Mahi-mahi and it was great!!! I have also tried it with tilapia and it works as well. Since tilapia is not as firm as the other fishes, you will need to handle gently when preparing. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2lbs cod, haddock, mahi-mahi or tilapia

5 tbsp fresh squeeze lime juice

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion (minced)

1 green bell pepper (seeded and chopped)

4 garlic cloves (minced)

1 lb ripe tomates (chopped) or 1 (16oz) can of chopped tomatoes (drained)

1 cup fish stock (homemade or boullion) or bottled clam juice

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1/3 cup cilantro (chopped)

salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl toss fish and lime juice together; set aside to marinate. In a skillet, on medium heat, add the oil until heated. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic. Stir often until onion has softened (approx. 5 minutes). Add the tomatoes, continue stirring until heated, then add stock and coconut milk. Simmer, then reduce the heat to med-low. Cover and allow to cook for another 10 minutes. Add the fish and the marinating lime juice and cilantro. Cook for another 5 minutes or until fish is opaque and firm. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over rice in a bowl to ensure you get the wonderful broth.

Note: you can change it up a bit and add shrimp to give it some variety. If you want to do a reduced fat version - reduce the coconut milk to 2/3 cup. You can add red pepper flakes to give it some "heat" as well.