Moqueca baiana (fish in coconut and dendê)

Method

1. Season the meagre steaks with the crushed garlic, the lime juice, 1 teaspoon of salt and black pepper and leave them in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Slice 2 onions and the tomatoes into thin rounds and the peppers into strips; deseed and chop the chilli; chop the coriander and chives.
3. Make fluffy white rice: boil 750 ml of water in a kettle. In a medium pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over low heat and soften ½ onion, finely chopped, with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes; add 300 g of long-grain rice and stir for 1 minute until every grain is coated. Pour in the boiling water, add 1 teaspoon of salt, stir once and cook uncovered over medium heat until the water drops to the level of the rice (about 7 minutes). Lower the heat, half-cover and cook 8 minutes more until dry; turn off the heat, keep covered for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.
4. In a wide, shallow pan (clay, if you have one), drizzle the olive oil over the bottom and make a layer with half the onion, tomato and peppers. Lay the fish steaks on top in a single layer with their marinade. Cover with the remaining onion, tomato and peppers, the chilli and half the herbs, and pour over the coconut milk.
5. Cover and bring to the boil over medium heat; lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes without stirring with a spoon (the fish breaks): shake the pan now and then instead.
6. Drizzle over the dendê oil, cover and cook 5 minutes more, until the fish flakes with a fork. Check the salt.
7. Make the pirão: ladle 250 ml of the moqueca broth into a small pan with 250 ml of water and bring to the boil. Add the cassava flour little by little, whisking constantly, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes over low heat into a smooth, creamy porridge. Adjust the salt.
8. Scatter the remaining herbs over the moqueca and serve from the pan, with the rice and the pirão.