Fish chowder with coconut milk

I found recipe of Brazilian fish soup somewhere on the internet, read it, liked it….. and changed it to my taste.  I used different types of vegetables, completely omitted rice that was in original recipe and added few spices.  I cannot really call it Brazilian fish soup anymore, I guess, thus I just called it fish chowder.

In the past I tried cooking few types of coconut milk soups with lemongrass and found that lemongrass adds unique lemony taste to the dish.  Thus I used lemongrass in this recipe as well.

I prefer using white onion in my recipes as I find that it does not have that strong “oniony” taste that I do not really like.  As this onion is quite large, I usually use 1/4 of it in each recipe.

Ingredients:

• White fish, I prefer cod, however, any white firm fish will work – about 3 or 4 fillets (cut in large chunks)
• Red pepper – 1  (you can use yellow, or orange, or any colour combination)
• Mushrooms – 250 grams, cut in chunks
• 1 large tomato, diced
• White onion – 1/4
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• Coconut milk – 1  14-ounce can
• Lemongrass – 1 stalk
• Lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
• Paprika
• Cilantro
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper

1. Place fish chunks onto plate, sprinkle with lemon juice, set aside while cooking vegetables.

2. Place pepper, mushrooms, tomato, garlic and onions in a large frying pan, sauté for about 15 min, add salt, pepper and spices to taste.

3. In a large pot or skillet layer half of the vegetables on the bottom, place raw fish on top of the vegetable layer, place the rest of the vegetables on top of fish.  Add coconut milk.

Cut lemongrass stalk in half, cut off the bulb and remove outer hard leaves;   add to the soup.  Bring soup to a simmer, reduce heat and cook for about 15 min on a low heat.  Add spices, red pepper flakes,  and paprika.

You might add more lemon juice to your liking.   Serve with cilantro.