Fish And Plantains

INGREDIENTS

• 900 G OF MULLET STEAKS 
• JUICE OF ½ LIME 
• 2 TABLESPOONS OF OLIVE OIL
• ½ ONION, DICED
• 1 GARLIC CLOVE, MINCED
• 6 VERY GREEN PLANTAINS
• 4 PEELED TOMATOES, DICED
• ¼ BUNCH OF CORIANDER, CHOPPED
• ¼ BUNCH OF CLOVE BASIL 
• ½ TEACUP OF FINE MANIOC FLOUR
• SALT TO TASTE

PREPARATION

Season the fish with salt and lime juice. In an iron pot, heat up the olive oil and braise the onion and garlic. Add the plantains, cut it lengthways and then in half. Add one litre of water and cook until the plantains are soft – at this point, the liquid should already have a blueish hue. Take out the plantains and half the broth; set aside. Add the tomato and the herbs and cook the fish in the broth, taking care not to overdo it. When it is cooked through, remove the fish and, with half of the broth, make a pirão (mush) adding the manioc flour slowly and stirring constantly. Serve the fish with the pirão.

IN DETAIL: The fish may vary according to supply: dried or salted, fresh and firm, mullet or sea catfish, snook, grouper, or acoupa weakfish. The one thing that cannot change is the plantain, which should be very green – that what gives the recipe its intriguing blueish hue due to a chemic reaction between the tannin and the fish’s proteins during cooking (“azul-marinho” means “navy blue” in Portuguese).