Polish Cottage Cheese Dip

Low-fat Polish cottage cheese dip with radishes and chives, this spread is light and refreshing.

Today’s Polish cottage cheese dip is something we had every day for breakfast in the hotel in Poland last year. I tasted it the first day there and had it then every day on a slice of dark bread with some extra cucumber slices on top. Absolutely delicious! Not to mention healthy. Just some low-fat, high protein cheese, herbs and radishes, really, it can hardly get any healthier, if you ask me.

Bread spreads or dips are a common affair around here, I prefer to eat a good and healthy spread on my bread in the morning or in the evening, then cold cuts or sweet spreads. Not that I mind those either, but bread spreads are so versatile and with just a few healthy ingredients you can make something new and delicious every time.

I have a few spreads in my repertoire that I make only once a year, things that can be canned like Zacusca – Romanian Eggplant Spread or this Vegan Wild Garlic and Sunflower Spread, which I always make in spring and which freezes very well.

And then I have all the regular spreads: cheese spreads like the Hungarian Spread with Feta, variations on hummus, like the Hoummus with Tahini and Garlic and many many other spreads, which I have never posted.

Ingredients

Cheese:

• The Polish spread is made with twarog, which is the Polish quark, a creamy fresh cheese made of cow’s milk, which is very popular in Germany as well.
• The Polish version is a bit different than the German quark, dryer, but equally delicious.
• Alternatively, you can use regular cottage cheese.
• It is not as smooth as twarog, as cottage cheese has those big grains, but the taste is just as good and refreshing. I do not mind the grains at all, but you can always crush the small lumps with a fork.
• Draining the cottage cheese is also recommended if it is very wet. It is not always necessary though, it really depends on the brand. Place it in a fine-mesh sieve and leave it for about one hour to drain.

Yogurt or sour cream:

• Or any dairy product you happen to have, actually.
• I’ve made this dip dozens of times over the past few years, and I must have used any kind of dairy there is at one time or another, whatever I happened to have in the fridge.
• You can use Greek yogurt (low-fat or full-fat), quark (low-fat or full-fat), sour cream, smetana, creme fraiche, cream cheese.
• The dip made with yogurt or low-fat versions of a product will taste lighter and more refreshing.
• When made with smetana, creme fraiche and full-fat products it will taste milder and heartier.

Vegetables:

• Fresh, crispy radishes and chives.
• I also love a version of this dip made with cucumbers. Deseed the cucumbers before chopping, the seeds release too much water.

How to serve?

Enjoy the Polish cottage cheese dip on dark rye bread, pumpernickel, or my personal favorite on wholemeal crispbread, either homemade crispbread or bought. Or serve it with raw vegetable sticks.

The spread keeps well for 3-4 days in the fridge. Keep in an airtight container. It is not suitable for freezing.

Other cottage cheese recipes:

Albanian Spinach Pie – Byrek Rolls

Leftover Turkey Lasagna

Romanian Fried Cheese Doghnuts – Papanasi

Baked Potatoes with Cottage Cheese

Romanian Dumplings – Papanasi fierti