Moqueca

Moqueca is a Brazilian seafood stew, made with fish or shrimp simmered slowly in a base of tomato, onion, chili and coriander, often with coconut milk. It has indigenous roots and is one of the dishes that best represent Brazilian cooking, especially in the northeast and southeast.

History

The earliest written mention of the dish is a 1554 letter by the Portuguese priest Luís de Grã, which describes indigenous people roasting food over the flames. The fish was traditionally wrapped in leaves and cooked over the fire, and the name is linked to the idea of wrapping. In 1584, Fernão de Cardim noted that fish, potatoes and mangará were prepared in this way, among other foods.

Over time the recipe changed through contact with Portuguese and African cooking. In Bahia, where African influence was strongest, coconut milk and palm oil became essential. Espírito Santo kept a version closer to the Portuguese stew, without palm oil and with annatto. Today the dish appears across several Brazilian states, with freshwater fish in Manaus and tucupi and jambu in Pará.

Culture

Moqueca competes for the place of Brazil's national culinary symbol. In Espírito Santo, cooking in a clay pan carries special weight: the craft of the paneleiras of Goiabeiras, in Vitória, was registered as cultural heritage by Iphan in 2002. It is usually served with white rice and pirão, a paste made from cassava flour. A vegetarian version replaces the fish with plantain.

Trivia