Brazilian Shrimp Moqueca

This may be my favorite dish to cook and one I pride myself on. It combines my love of seafood with the flavors of Brazil - take a bite of this and you’ll feel like you’re on the beaches of Rio or Bahia!

While I focused on specifically shrimp moqueca, this dish can also be centered solely around white fish (cod or halibut, cut up into small chunks), or BOTH with one pound of each! The recipe doesn’t change whichever way you go!

Also, pro tip: if you want truly authentic and you can find it, add 2 tablespoons of dende (red palm) oil at the end and stir in! Not a common ingredient at most super markets these days, so no worries if you can’t find it!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. shrimp, peeled

• 1/3 cup olive oil

• 1 medium red onion, diced

• 1 red bell pepper, diced

• 1 green bell pepper, diced

• 1 large tomato, diced

• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• One 14oz can coconut milk

• 1 tablespoon hot sauce

• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

• Salt and pepper to taste

• White rice, for serving

1. Place shrimp in a large bowl. Season with the lime juice, salt and pepper. Reserve to the side.

2. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan. Saute onions for about 5 mins until translucent, then add the peppers and cook for about 5 mins more. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute.

3. Add the tomatoes and red pepper flakes, then mix to combine all together and cook for about 8 minutes.

4. Add shrimp and cilantro to the pan and stir around + simmer until the shrimp turns opaque – about 3 – 4 minutes.

5. Pour in the coconut milk, hot sauce and dende oil if you have it, and continue to simmer + stir all together until well combined for another 5 minutes.

6. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot, over white rice.