Brown Stew Fish
Brown Stew Fish is a delicious, easy and deeply flavoursome Jamaican stewed fish recipe. It's made by lightly seasoning snapper fish, frying until golden crisp, and simmering it down in a rich brown savoury gravy filled with onions, garlic, bell peppers, tomatoes, thyme, and scotch bonnet pepper! Serve for dinner with rice, dumpling or ground provision like yams, potatoes and boiled banana.
Servings: 2 servings
Equipment
- Non-Stick Pan or Skillet to fry fish
- Fish Turner or Flipper for turning fish
- Wire Rack and Sheet Pan for draining oil from fish
- Splatter Screen to reduce oil splatter
Ingredients
Fish Seasoning
- 1 pound Whole Snapper Fish cleaned and sliced into 4 pieces
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp All Purpose Seasoning
Brown Stew Fish
- 1/2 small Onion chopped or julienned
- 2 cloves Garlic minced or finely chopped
- 1/4 Red Bell Peppers or any colour (green, red, yellow, orange), chopped or julienned
- 1/4 Yellow Bell Pepper or any colour (green, red, yellow, orange), chopped or julienned
- 1/2 small Tomato chopped or julienned
- 1/4 Scotch Bonnet Pepper more or less as desired
- 3 sprigs Fresh Thyme roughly chopped
- 2 stalk Escallion green onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup Neutral Cooking Oil for frying
- 1 tbsp Ketchup
- 1 tbsp Hoisin Sauce or use (1 tsp brown sugar and 1 tsp browning)
- 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1/3 cup Chicken Broth or vegetable broth or water
Instructions
Prep Fish
- Check to ensure fish has been properly scaled, fins removed and gutted. Then thoroughly rinse with lemon or lime and cold water. Drain and pat dry with paper towel.
- Season both the outside of the fish and inner cavity with salt, black pepper and all purpose seasoning, then set aside.
Brown Stew Fish
- Using a large, non-stick skillet, heat cooking oil over medium high heat. Add fish pieces and fry for about 5 minutes on each side until golden and crisp. Do not flip until it can freely move (a crisp exterior should have formed on the fish). Remove fish from oil and place on wire rack to drain excess oil; set aside.
- Discard oil, leaving about 2 (two) tablespoon of oil in the skillet. Return to stove, and reduce heat to medium. Add onion, garlic, bell peppers, tomatoes, escallion, thyme, scotch bonnet pepper and saute until for about a minute. Then add ketchup, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and broth or water.
- Return fish to skillet and gently spoon sauce overtop of fish. Increase heat to medium high and cover skillet for about 2-5 minutes. Uncover and spoon sauce overtop fish again, remove from heat, serve and enjoy!
Notes
Hoisin Sauce - if you do not have this on hand, you can use or use 1 tsp brown sugar and 1 tsp browning instead.
Frying Fish – do not flip your fish until it can freely move in the pan; this will ensure it stays whole and intact.
Don’t Over Fry – once the fish is cooked through (internal temp of 145° F) and has turned golden and crispy, carefully remove the fish from the oil and drain on a wire rack.
Steaming Time – steam your fish for 2 to 5 minutes over medium high heat covered, but no longer to ensure the fish doesn't get too soggy.
Amount of Liquid – you may want to add an additional tbsp or more of stock, depending on how much veggies you have and how firm/soft you want them. Adjust as needed.
Scotch Bonnet Pepper – if you prefer a slight heat, leave the pepper whole. If you prefer more spice, slice the pepper and remove the seeds,