Yellow Beans on the Side

Yellow beans with dill, kapros sargababfozelek, is a traditional Hungarian dish. It has an unusual sweet-and-sour cream sauce with a touch of vinegar and sugar.

But working from a recipe by Gabriella Rado, a Hungarian cook living in Los Angeles, we’ve made a reduced-fat version that maintains the essential flavor of the dish.

Instead of the traditional bacon fat and cream, a bit of flour and water are combined and stirred into milk to give creaminess to the sauce.

Sauteing the garlic before adding it to the sauce gives a smoother flavor to the finished dish. We found beautiful yellow wax beans at a farmer’s market and used them in the dish, but fresh green beans work fine. This makes a great side dish with meat or poultry.

HUNGARIAN-STYLE CREAMED YELLOW BEANS (Kapros Sargababfozelek)

4 cloves garlic, minced

Nonstick cooking spray

1 pound yellow wax beans, cut into 2-inch pieces

Water

1 1/2 cups nonfat milk

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon minced dill

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Saute garlic in small skillet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray until tender, 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Set aside.

Add yellow beans to boiling water in saucepan. Water should just barely cover beans. Cover and simmer until beans are crisp and barely tender, about 10 minutes.

Add milk, sugar, dill, salt and sauteed garlic to beans. Bring to boil. Blend together flour and 2 tablespoons water until smooth. Stir into boiling milk until slightly thickened. Reduce heat to simmer and continue to cook until thickened and flavors blend, about 10 minutes. Stir in vinegar.

4 servings. Each serving:

95 calories; 357 mg sodium; 2 mg cholesterol; 0 fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 1.30 grams fiber.

* Glass bowl from Williamson Young, Beverly Hills.