Fish stew which is sometimes called fish soup by some people, is an easy and simple fish recipe to make for breakfast or lunch; fish stew is simply a tasty blend of pepper and tomatocooked with fish and some other healthy ingredients. This rich tomato fish stew can be prepared with catfish, tuna, salmon, tilapia, mackerel, croaker fish, or with any kind of seafood ; I used mackerel for this recipe, it is a great substitute for beef stew. Fish stew can be combined with beef to make fish and beef stew or with chicken to make chicken and fish stew. The best way to make tomato fish stew is to stir-fry it long on heat to get rid of the sour flavour.
Stew recipes are versatile they can be cooked with different vegetables like plum tomatoes, canned tomatoes, garden eggs, spinach and many other vegetables, even if you dont want to use fresh tomato for your stew, you can substitute that with the canned tomato or leafy vegetable. Stew recipes on the other hand can be prepared with chicken, turkey, beef or fish. When preparing fish stew, you can either make use of fresh fish or the fried fish. One major problem many people face while preparing fish stew or fish soup is that, the fish normally falls apart or scatters into the stew; to prevent your fish from scattering into your stew, you will need to fry your fish separately before adding it to the stew to keep it intact. However, you can make use of croaker fish for your stew, croaker fish doesnt scatter during the cooking process. See how to fry fish without it scattering here. You can choose to cook your fish first maybe for 5 minutes to extract a rich stock if you want or simply marinate the fish and fry it without cooking it,that depends on how you want it.
However, this article explains how to make a simple tasty tomato fish stew (fish stew) with some other healthy ingredients. Fish stew is supper delicious and easy to make, it can be eaten with almost every other food especially staple foods like Irish potatoes, fried chips, sweet potato chips,boiled plantain, rice, boiled yam or pasta. There are other stews recipes such as beef stew recipe, assorted meatstew recipe which I have posted earlier on, you can read more on these if you want.
Additionally, if you want to your tomato stew to be thick, you can simply combine the fresh tomatoes with red bell peppers and blend or just combine fresh tomatoes with the canned tomato paste to make your stew. On the other hand, if your fish stew is too thick you can add fish broth, meat broth or a little water to it to adjust the consistencyas you want. Also, it is very important you season your tomato fish stew or any other stew recipe with some healthy spices like onions, nutmeg, garlic, thyme curry and ginger; they are flavourful and spicy, they help intensify the flavour of the stew.
Table of Contents
Fish Stew Ingredients
- 1 kg of fresh tomatoes
- 100 g of canned tomato paste,
- 8 pieces of red bell peppers
- 300ml of vegetable oil,
- 500g of fish,(Mackerel, Catfish, Cod or Tilapia)
- 3 medium onion chopped
- 5 scotch bonnet peppers
- 3-4 seasoning cubes
- teaspoon of ginger paste, optional
- teaspoon of garlic paste/powder, optional
- 1 tablespoon of thyme
- 1 tablespoon of curry,
- Salt to taste
Fish stew ingredients
Steps on how to cook tomato fish stew
- First, wash and blend tomatoes, peppers with red bell peppers (tatashe or shombo) into a smooth paste.
- Pour the blended tomato into a medium pot and place on heat to cook until the water in it dries completely. Cooking the tomato helps to reduce the sour taste and enhance the taste of the stew.
- Thinly slice 3 medium onions and keep aside you can blend them with the tomatoes if you prefer, I like to blend or pound some to thicken the stew.
- Defrost fish if its in the fridge and cut into 4 or 5 pieces and marinate it with your preferred seasonings, marinating the fish will help intensify the flavour of the stew.
- When your tomato blend has become thickened and the water is completely dried from it, take it off from heat.
- Place a pot/pan on heat, add about 25cl of vegetable oil, once the oil is hot add the fish cutlets to it and fry until they all turn golden.
- Remove the fish from the oil and set aside on a paper towel to drain.
- Turn the oil you have used to fry the fish into another pot and still place it on heat, add in onion, ginger and garlic to fry for 30 seconds and then pour in the canned tomato paste and gently stir-fry for 10 minutes on a medium heat. I like to mix the canned tomato paste with a little water to reduce its thickness before frying it
- After that, gently add in the boiled tomato and stir to combine, and then cover the lid for it to boil. Come back to the tomato and stir frequently as it cooks on a medium heat, you dont want the tomato to stick to the bottom of the pot or burn; this might take about 15-20 minutes for the sour taste to vanish from the tomato.
- Taste for sourness, once you cant taste that anymore; add in the pounded onions, 3 stock cubes, salt, nutmeg, thyme, and then stir the stew to combine. If your stew is very thick, you can add a little water or fish broth to adjust it.
- Let the stew cook for 10 minutes more after adding in all the ingredients, bring in the fried fish into the stew stir to combine; let this cook for 5 minutes more. Serve you fish stew with boil yam plantain or rice.
.Steps to make a simple fish stew with pictures
1. First, wash and blend tomatoes, peppers with red bell peppers (tatashe or shombo) into a smooth paste.
2. Pour the blended tomato into a medium pot and place on heat to cook until the water in it dries completely. Cooking the tomato helps to reduce the sour taste and enhance the taste of the stew. See how to cook tomato stew without it tasting sour
3. Thinly slice 3 medium onions and keep aside you can blend them with the tomatoes if you prefer, I like to share my chopped onions into two then blend or pound some to thicken the stew.
4. Defrost your fish if it is in the fridge and cut into 4 or 5 pieces and marinate it with your preferred seasonings, marinating the fish will help to intensify the flavour of the stew.
5. When your tomato blend has become thickened and the water is completely dried from it, take it off from heat and set it aside.
6. Place a pot/pan on heat, add about 25cl of vegetable oil, once the oil is hot add the fish cutlets to it and fry until they all turn golden.
Frying of fish for fish stew
7. Remove the fish from the oil and set aside on a paper towel to drain.
8. Turn the oil you have used to fry the fish into another pot and still place it on heat, add in onions, ginger and garlic to fry for 30 seconds and then pour in the canned tomato paste and gently stir-fry for 10 minutes on a medium heat. I like to mix the canned tomato paste with a little water to reduce it thickness.
Frying of onions, garlic and ginger for fish stew
Process of frying tomato paste for fish stew
9. After that, gently add in the boiled tomato and stir to combine, and then cover the lid for it to boil. Come back to the tomato and stir frequently as it cooks on a medium heat, you dont want the tomato to stick to the bottom of the pot or burn; this might take about 15-20 minutes for the sour taste to vanish from the tomato.
The boiled tomato is also added to the oil to cook
Stir the stew frequently to prevent it from burning
Taste for sourness, once you cant taste that anymore and the tomato is properly fried; add in the pounded onion, 3 stock cubes, salt, nutmeg, thyme, and then stir the stew to combine. If your stew is very thick, you can add a little water or fish broth to adjust it.
Add the necessary ingredients, stir to combine and taste the stew for salt
Let the stew simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes after adding all the seasonings and the fried fish to intensify more favour
11. Let the stew cook for 10 minutes more after adding in all the ingredients, bring in the fried fish into the stew stir to combine; let this cook for 5 minutes more.
Fish stew goes well with any staple food
Tomato fish stew is served with boiled Irish potatoes