Moqueca capixaba (fish and tomato stew)

Method

1. Season the meagre steaks with 1 teaspoon of salt and the lime juice and keep them in the fridge while you prepare the rest.
2. Make the fish stock: rinse the trimmings and head, put them in a pot with ½ onion, the bay leaf and 1 litre of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes, skimming. Strain; you should have about 700 ml.
3. Deseed the tomatoes and dice them; dice 2 onions and chop the remaining ½ onion for the pirão and another ½ for the rice; chop the garlic, coriander and chives.
4. 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.
5. In a clay pot or wide pan, warm 45 ml of olive oil with 4 g of annatto seasoning (colorífico) over low heat for 1 minute until the oil turns red. Cook half the diced onion and the garlic for 2 minutes. Spread half the tomato over it, lay the fish steaks on top, cover with the remaining onion and tomato and half the coriander and chives, and pour over 100 ml of the stock.
6. Cover and cook over low heat for 12 to 15 minutes without stirring (shake the pot now and then), until the fish flakes. Check the salt.
7. Make the pirão: in a small pan, warm the rest of the olive oil with the rest of the annatto over low heat, cook the chopped ½ onion for 2 minutes and 100 g of diced tomato for 1 minute. Add the remaining stock (about 600 ml) and bring to the boil. Add the cassava flour little by little, stirring constantly, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes into a smooth porridge; season with salt and half the remaining herbs.
8. Scatter the last of the herbs over the moqueca and serve from the pot, with the rice and the pirão.