Spice up your midweek fish with RecipeTin Eats’ fast and flavour-packed Mexican stew

Name: Spice up your midweek fish with RecipeTin Eats’ fast and flavour-packed Mexican stew
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 1 onion, finely diced; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 tsp dried oregano; 100g can of chipotles in adobo sauce (see note); 400g can crushed tomato; 1 litre salt-reduced vegetable stock; 1 tsp cooking salt; 2 potatoes (300g each), peeled and cut into 1.2cm cubes; 6 corn cobbettes (thaw if frozen); 400g can black beans, drained; 2 x 300g snapper, barramundi or basa fillets, cut into 5cm pieces; ¼ cup roughly chopped coriander leaves, plus extra to serve; 1 tbsp lime juice (plus extra wedges to serve)

You can have this chunky, big-flavoured dish on the table in less than 30 minutes. And less-expensive fish is perfectly at home here.

RecipeTin Eats

July 4, 2023

easyTime:< 30 minsServes:4

Everybody knows fish is good for you and we need to eat more of it. Here’s an easy way to cook fish that’s quick and cosy: in a chunky Mexican-inspired broth. The thing with fish stew is that it has to be quick to make – otherwise, you’ll overcook the fish.

While I’ll always encourage you to buy the best fish you can afford, you can get away with better-value fish here because of the big flavours in the sauce.

SOS checklist

Fewer than 12 ingredients (excluding oil, salt, pepper and water) ✓

Less than 30 minutes ✓

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
100g can of chipotles in adobo sauce (see note)
400g can crushed tomato
1 litre salt-reduced vegetable stock
1 tsp cooking salt
2 potatoes (300g each), peeled and cut into 1.2cm cubes
6 corn cobbettes (thaw if frozen)
400g can black beans, drained
2 x 300g snapper, barramundi or basa fillets, cut into 5cm pieces
¼ cup roughly chopped coriander leaves, plus extra to serve
1 tbsp lime juice (plus extra wedges to serve)

Method

Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, oregano and chipotles in adobo (chillies and sauce) and cook for 2 minutes while stirring.
Step 2
Add tomato, stock and salt and bring to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes, then blitz until smooth using a stick blender.
Step 3
Add potato and corn to the sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.
Step 4
Stir in the black beans.
Step 5
Place the fish pieces on top of the sauce. Don’t stir them in. Return the sauce to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes.
Step 6
Once the fish is cooked (check to see that it flakes), add the coriander and lime juice.
Step 7
Gently push the fish under the sauce, then ladle into bowls, garnished with extra coriander leaves. Serve extra lime wedges alongside.

Notes

Chipotles in adobo is a Mexican condiment comprising chipotles (dried and smoked jalapeno chillies) in a tangy, spicy red sauce. It’s finally becoming more readily available in Australia – look for it in the supermarket’s Mexican food aisle. Stir it into everything Mexican for an instant flavour boost. Freeze leftovers in a ziplock bag (flattened so it’s easy to break off bits as you need it).
Snapper and barramundi are ideal here but any firm white fish fillets will work a treat. Look for fillets about 1.5cm thick.