Chili crisp cottage cheese bowl with smashed cucumber
18 min · 19 g protein · 228 cals / serving
Cool, creamy cottage cheese whipped smooth and spooned under a pile of garlicky smashed cucumber dressed in rice vinegar and soy, then drizzled with a quick homemade chili crisp of sizzled garlic, chili flakes and sesame. Crunchy, spicy, tangy and cooling all at once, the savoury cottage cheese bowl the internet keeps making.
Ingredients
Smashed cucumber
- 1 English cucumber cucumber
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
Quick chili crisp
- 2 tsp peanut oil, or any neutral oil
- 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or Korean or Sichuan chili flakes
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1 1/4 cups cottage cheese (2%)
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
- a small handful fresh cilantro (optional)
Steps
- Lay the cucumber on a board and smash it along its length with the flat of a big knife or a rolling pin until it splits, then tear it into bite-size chunks. Toss with the salt in a sieve and leave for 10 minutes to drain.
- Shake off the liquid, then toss the cucumber with the rice vinegar and soy sauce.
- Make the chili crisp: warm the oil with the sliced garlic in a small pan over medium-low heat and cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring, until the garlic is pale golden. Take it off the heat and stir in the chili flakes and sesame seeds; they sizzle and turn the oil red. Let it cool for a minute.
- Whip the cottage cheese for 20–30 seconds in a blender or with a stick blender until smooth (or leave it curdy if you like the texture). Spread it into two bowls, pile the cucumber on top, spoon over the chili crisp and finish with green onion and cilantro.
Good to know
Bought chili crisp?
Use 2 tsp of your favourite jar instead of making it; stir the jar well so you get crunchy bits as well as oil.
Make it a light lunch?
Add a soft-boiled egg or some shredded cooked chicken and a few edamame, and eat it with a spoon.
Make ahead?
The chili crisp keeps a week in a jar. Smash and dress the cucumber just before eating; it goes soft and watery after an hour.
Per
- Calories
- 67
- Protein
- (34%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (40%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (26%)
- 4 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 282 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 456 kcal goes into the pot and 717 g of ingredients comes out as about 680 g of food: 67 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.