Watson’s melt-in-your-mouth Moroccan almond curry
‘Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson‘ is a collaboration between IBM and the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. As part of an ongoing series, we’ll be preparing one recipe from the book until we’ve made all of them. Wish us luck.
While it’s no great surprise to see Watson conjuring up unusual flavor blends, I was surprised to find such subdued in this Moroccan almond curry. On paper the recipe looked to be leaning toward bland, but its clever combination of all the elements worked. Traditional Moroccan lamb curries have intense flavors highlighted by garlic, onion, sometimes ginger, cinnamon and then sweetened with honey and dried apricot to balance lamb’s strong taste. Here, though, Watson prescribes small amounts of cardamom, cumin, turmeric. All told, the recipe is comprised of four separate parts, which you’ll later pile together. These include: the curry-braised lamb, a pea puree, green salad and plain old basmati rice. This is a great choice if you want to show off for guests, and yet it’s easy too: Because the meal is broken up in stages, much can be done the day before. It’s also mild enough that even the pickiest eater will find some joy in the dish. I fed it to a couple kids under ten and they both ate it up.Slideshow-336825
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