Brazilian · main

Moqueca Capixaba

Moqueca Capixaba reads citrus 4.7, allium 3.8 and sourness 3.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Brazilian main, about 54 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 3.7 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 1.7 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 5.9 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 1.0 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 4.0 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.3 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Citrus 4.7 · Allium 3.8 · Sourness 3.8 · Richness 3.7 · Salinity 3.6 · Herbaceous 3.0 · Warm Spice 1.5 · Umami 1.5 · Fruity 1.3 · Sweetness 1.3 · Bitterness 0.9 · Floral 0.9 · Nutty 0.9 · Heat 0.5 · Earthy 0.5

What's in it (12)

• firm white fish steaks — 1200 g
• limes — 120 g
• tomatoes — 500 g
• onions — 320 g
• garlic — 24 g
• urucum oil — 41 g
• olive oil — 41 g
• cilantro — 40 g
• green onion — 45 g
• salt — 10 g
• freshly ground black pepper — 3 g
• farinha de mandioca — 150 g

Time & effort: about 54 min (31 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 13.5 kcal, 0.4 g protein, 0.1 g fat, 3 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. There are two moquecas in Brazil and confusing them is a live argument. The baiana is Afro-Brazilian: dendê palm oil, coconut milk, dried shrimp. The capixaba, from Espírito Santo, has neither — no dendê, no coconut milk at all — and is coloured instead with urucum, the annatto seed, in a black clay pot made by the potters of Goiabeiras from river mud and mangrove bark. It is lighter, cleaner and far more about the fish.
2. Rub the fish steaks with the lime juice, half the salt and the pepper, and leave them 20 minutes in the refrigerator. Capixaba cooks call this the tempero and it firms the surface of the fish.
3. Make the urucum oil if you do not have colorífico: warm 3 tbsp of neutral oil with 2 tsp of annatto seed over low heat for 3 minutes until the oil is deep orange, then strain the seed out. Annatto is sold as urucum, achiote or annatto in any Latin grocer and is worth having; paprika is a different flavour and will not do the same job.
4. Set the clay pot, or your heaviest lidded casserole, over medium heat with the olive oil and the urucum oil. Lay in half the onion rounds, half the tomato, the minced garlic and the cilantro stems as a bed — no browning, no stirring, this is a layered dish and it is built cold and then heated.
5. Lay the fish over the bed in one layer, then cover with the remaining onion and tomato and the rest of the salt. Add 150 ml of water at the side of the pot, not over the fish.
6. Cover and cook at a steady simmer for 20 minutes, shaking the pot occasionally rather than stirring, until the fish flakes at the bone and the vegetables have collapsed into a loose orange broth. Scatter over the cilantro leaves and the cebolinha in the last minute.
7. For the pirão, ladle 400 ml of the hot broth into a small pan over low heat and rain in the farinha de mandioca in a thin stream, whisking hard, until it thickens to a soft polenta, about 3 minutes. Serve it beside the moqueca with plain white rice; in Vitória the pirão is not optional.
8. Substitutions: robalo can stand in for the firm white fish steaks on the bone; 2 tsp colorífico can stand in for the urucum oil.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Zahter Salatası (Wild Thyme Leaf Salad) — Turkish
• Chicken Gyro Flatbreads with Tzatziki — Greek
• Avgolemono Chicken and Orzo Soup — Greek
• Grilled Lamb Kebabs with Mint Yogurt — Greek
• Pork Souvlaki Skewers with Pita — Greek

Keep reading: what citrus, allium, sourness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.