Vegan Moqueca hearts of palm and vegetables in a spicy and aromatic tomato and coconut sauce. A colourful and tasty dish, perfect to serve with some fluffy white rice.
Serving Vegan Moqueca
Vegan Moqueca is perfect to serve with our recipe for Brazilian White Rice, the savoury rice soaks up the delicious sauce. Moqueca can also be served on its own for a lighter meal.
Moqueca is the perfect summer stew. Adding some fresh tomatoes and fresh coriander as a garnish to adds a bit of freshness. Finish off with a squeeze of lime juice.
Hearts of Palm
Traditionally Moqueca is a fish stew with a tomato and coconut-based broth. The Hearts of Palm in this recipe are used as a replacement for the fish. They have a delicate taste and texture which works great as a replacement and soak up the flavours of the broth.
They are usually sold in tins or jars and are easy to find in most supermarkets.
Vegan Moqueca Ingredients
Other than Hearts of Palm and tomatoes, the other vegetables in the dish can be changed to your liking or what’s currently in season where you live. We have previously made it with courgettes but you could add almost anything. How about tenderstem broccoli or green beans?
Another ingredient missing from this recipe that is traditionally found in Moqueca is dende oil. This is a red palm oil with a unique flavour. It’s less processed than other palm oils so has more flavour. It’s not easy to find in some parts of the world but if you have access to it then you can swap out half the olive oil for dende oil.
Vegan Moqueca (Brazilian Hearts of Palm Stew)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 onions diced
- 1 red chilli finely diced
- 1 medium carrot diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 400 ml tin coconut milk
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 50 g soaked cashews
- 400 g tin heart of palm
- 10-12 cherry tomatoes quartered
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
- Juice of half a lime
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Make sure the cashews are soaking in hot water.
- Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once hot add the diced onions, carrot, red chilli and minced garlic. Add a good pinch of salt and gently sauté until the onions are soft and translucent, around 8 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and stir to coat everything. Cook the tomato paste for 2 minutes.
- Add the sweet paprika and ground cumin. Stir and cook for 30 seconds before adding the coconut milk.
- Bring to a boil then add the diced red bell pepper. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
- Drain the palm hearts and cut them into bite-sized disks. Also, drain the soaking cashews. Add both the palm hearts and cashews to the pan and continue to cook until they are heated through, around 4 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, add the cherry tomatoes, chopped fresh coriander and lime juice. Stir to fully incorporate everything.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning. We added ¼ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper.
- Serve the Moqueca with Brazilian White Rice and garnish with more fresh coriander.
