Malai Kofta Dumplings at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Malai Kofta at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I tried potato-cheese dumplings with creamy tomato curry sauce at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California and loved saying their exotic name “malai kofta.” 

According to Swasthi’s Kitchen website, malai kofta can also be called “paneer kofta curry.” Paneer is Indian white cheese. Kofta are paneer balls made into oblong dumplings at Avatar Indian Grill. Malai Kofta is a vegetarian dish served in a thick, creamy sauce called a curry. 

Malai kofta is from Northern India and belongs to a family of dumpling dishes common in Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Balkan cuisines according to Swasthi’s Kitchen website. 

The paneer dumplings are made with boiled potatoes, crumbled Indian paneer white cheese, spices, and herbs. Once the dumplings are made, they are served in a curry made of boiled onions, cashews, and tomatoes that is blended to make a purée and cooked further with heavy cream to thicken. The curry is seasoned with cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves. 

The curry tastes fine with plain white rice. I also ordered butter naan, Indian flatbread to go with my meal. For an exotic and tasty lunch, malai kofta from Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California is an excellent choice. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Thai Red Curry with Pumpkin and Artichoke Hearts at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Thai Red Curry with Pumpkin and Artichoke Hearts at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

One of the benefits of living in Salinas, California is that it is easy to eat organic produce in any cuisine, especially Thai dishes at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California on South Main Street. 

I love pumpkin and artichoke hearts and ordered these in a Thai red curry to go with jasmine rice. Both vegetables in this dish were simmered with the red curry to become silken. 

The red curry usually is made with coconut milk, ginger and garlic paste, lime leaves, Thai basil, brown sugar, and red chile peppers according to the BBC Good Food website. 

Ginger Thai allows you to choose the spice level in your dish. There are 4 levels with level 4 being numbing. I choose level 3 for my meals, because I like the tingling sensation that goes with the flavor. Level 3 I think is still too hot for people who like mild food. If you love the flavor of pumpkin, the milder spice levels might be more to your liking.  

At all spice levels, the red curry has Vitamin A and Vitamin C. The orange pumpkin has Vitamin A. Artichokes have Vitamin K. This great tasting dish obviously has a lot of vitamin power, too. 

Diners looking to vary their vegetable routine might be interested in Thai red curry with pumpkin and artichoke hearts at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California on South Main Street. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Modern Mexican Fare at Alvarado on Main in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Modern Mexican Fare at Alvarado on Main in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I tried two modern Mexican dishes at Alvarado on Main in downtown Salinas, California recently that might interest adventurous diners. 

The first dish I tried was a street corn salad. Street corn is roasted and called esquites in Spanish. The roasted kernels in this salad were mixed with creamy cotija cheese from Mexico. Then, the esquites was mixed with baby salad greens that Salinas is famous for. 

The corn was sweet and full of vitamin C while the cotija cheese had protein and calcium. All good things to go with the fresh salad as a vegetarian delight. 

I order salads, so I do not feel bad about the calories if I get in dessert. I decided to order dessert at Alvarado on Main and had a Mexican hot chocolate pot de crème pudding made with Ibarra chocolate. 

Whipped cream topped off the pot de crème with a liberal dusting on sugar, cinnamon, and powdered hot chile pepper. 

Powdered hot chile peppers are an acquired taste, but the peppers, chocolate, and cinnamon are all good antioxidants made sweet with sugar. 

These dishes can be served pretty quickly for lunch customers and are good take-out items. Both are more winning dishes from Alvarado on Main in downtown Salinas, California. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Scottish Cold Reliever by Ruth Paget

 Scottish Cold Reliever by Ruth Paget

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup whiskey

-Juice of 1 lemon

-2 tablespoons honey

Steps:

Heat until honey melts in the whiskey and lemon juice.

Drink while warm.

Be prepared to use the bathroom.

Source: McFarland Family - Arena, Wisconsin - Elizabeth McFarland - my great-great-grandmother

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Vegetable Green Curry at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Vegetable Green Curry at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

There is shrimp paste in the vegetable green curry at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California, which gives it a delicious salty and sweet flavor along with many vitamins. 

I consulted True Thai by Victor Sodsook to find out what goes into this perky green curry and loved everything, which includes the following: 

-coriander seed 

-shrimp paste 

-anise seed 

-peppercorns 

-minced Kaffir lime peel 

-cilantro stems 

-lemon grass 

-Siamese ginger

 -garlic 

-1/2 cup green chiles 

-lettuce 

To make the curry, you dry roast the spices first and then grind them in a food processor. The herbs are then pounded in a mortar and pestle and added to the dry spices in the food processor. 

Next, the garlic and shallots are crushed in the mortar and pestle and then added to the food processor. The shrimp paste and green chiles come next and are added to the food processor and whizzed. 

The lettuce leaves go in last to be processed, giving the curry its moist texture. 

Ginger Thai serves its warmed green curry with stir-fried eggplant chunks, zucchini slices, bell pepper squares, and peppery Thai basil for a pungent, spicy meal that is good at any time of day. 

The meal comes with rice so you can soak up every last bit of the delicious curry. Ginger Thai lets you choose the spice level you would like; they have four options. I like the third level, which is spicy. 

The vegetables in the green curry are soft-bodied and soak up oil in the stir-frying process. I like the silken texture the vegetables have, but if you prefer firmer textured vegetables, you might want to try the yellow curry, which comes with potatoes and carrots.

For a huge vitamin boost, I highly recommend the green curry with eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and basil at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California that really highlight the produce grown in the Salinas Valley in addition to tasting great. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and creator of the games Sommelier, Camembert, Vienna, and Senf

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Glowing Satay Chicken at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Satay Chicken at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I tried a delicious Bangkok street food called satay chicken at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California and thought I could make a meal out of double order of this appetizer with a side of jasmine rice and a salad. 

According to the cookbook True Thai by Victor Sodsook, skewers of flattened chicken breast get a full curry treatment to become these delicious appetizers with equally delicious dipping sauces. 

The chicken is first marinated in coconut milk, brown sugar, nam pla fish sauce, coriander seed, and panang curry made with red chiles, coriander seed, shrimp paste, kaffir lime slices, cilantro, ginger, garlic, and shallots. 

When satay chicken is ready to be cooked, it is threaded on skewers and then broiled or grilled. 

The satay chicken comes with two piquant sauces for dipping: 

-curried peanut satay sauce 

-spicy cucumber relish 

The curried peanut satay sauce is made with unsweetened coconut milk, peanut butter, brown sugar, nam pla fish sauce, and massaman curry made with chiles, cardamom, cumin, shrimp paste, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, lemongrass, ginger, shallots, and garlic. 

That pretty spicy sauce is a counterpoint to the spicy and hot cucumber relish made with white vinegar, brown sugar, cucumber, Thai chiles, crushed peanuts, and cilantro. 

All of the delicious curries that go into making satay chicken give it a lemon yellow glow and luxurious albeit easily gobbled taste. 

I love having satay chicken and Ginger Thai Restaurant close to home in Salinas, California. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and creator of the games Sommelier, Camembert, Vienna, and Carnitas

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#26 Best Sushi in US at Sushi Hut in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

#26 in US Sushi at Sushi Hut in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I just had to try Sushi Hut in Salinas, California when I saw that the sushi restaurant was named #26 Best Sushi Restaurant in the US according to a national YELP poll on a local TV station. 

Prior to visiting Sushi Hut, I had eaten sushi as an exchange student in Japan and as an organizer of the first Japan Festival in Chicago when I would eat sushi at Suntory and Hatsuhana downtown. 

When I walked into Sushi Hut in Salinas, I felt like I was in a neighborhood sushi place in Osaka, Japan, because most of the boxed, ready-to-go sushi was rolls or round maki slices that you find in Osaka. Oval-shaped rice mounds with raw fish on top called nigiri sushi typically come from Tokyo. 

Sushi Hut can make all kinds of sushi on demand for sushi (raw fish and vinegared rice) and sashimi (raw fish alone). 

However, I was so impressed by the boxed sushi at the entrance that my daughter Florence Paget and I focused on trying those on several occasions including the following sushi types: 

-California rolls made with a dark black nori seaweed wrapper, sushi rice, sesame seeds, avocado, cucumber, and crabmeat mayonnaise. 

-Rainbow roll made with a black nori seaweed wrapper, sushi rice, sesame seeds, avocado, crabmeat mayonnaise, cucumber, and for fish – raw tuna, salmon, shrimp, halibut, and yellowtail. 

-Spicy Shrimp with tuna and jalapeño pepper roll with a black nori seaweed wrapper, sesame seeds, butterflied shrimp, avocado, tuna, 1 jalapeño pepper, and a spicy sauce made with mayonnaise, chile powder, hot chile sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions, and dried fish shavings. 

-Shrimp tempura roll made with a black nori seaweed roll, sushi rice, sesame seeds, deep-fried tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber, crab meat mayonnaise, radish sprouts, and spicy sauce made with mayonnaise, chile powder, hot chile sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions, and dried fish shavings.  

-California creamy roll made with black nori seaweed wrapper, chopped tuna, and creamy sauce made with sesame seeds, rice vinegar, vegetable oil, sugar, soy sauce, and mayonnaise. 

-Crunchy roll made with a black nori seaweed roll, sushi rice, sesame seeds, avocado, deep-fried tempura shrimp, tempura crumbs, and eel sauce made with sugar, water, soy sauce, and mirin sake. 

Everything was fresh and made you feel like you were sitting at an ocean-side sushi restaurant. 

Note: For more information about sushi, diners might have fun consulting the following books: 

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sushi by James O. Fraioli and Chef Kaz Satao 

Sushi for Dummies by Judi Strada. 

Sushi Hut is customer friendly and offers a wide variety of Asian soda, boba, and teas as well as chips. I like it that customers of all ages are coming in to try the 26th Best Sushi in the Country at Sushi Hut. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and creator of the games Sommelier, Thutmose III, and Bento.

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