What is chè? Vietnamese sweet soups explained

Chè is a broad family of Vietnamese desserts: sweet soups, puddings and drinks made from beans, jellies, fruit, tapioca or sticky rice, often finished with coconut milk. It can be served warm in a bowl or cold in a tall glass over crushed ice, and there are dozens of varieties.

The word is pronounced roughly "cheh," with a falling tone. Here is how to make sense of it.

What goes into chè?

Most chè combines a few of these:

• Beans and legumes: mung beans, red beans, black beans and black-eyed peas.
• Starches: tapioca pearls, glutinous rice, taro, sweet potato and cassava.
• Jellies: agar jelly, grass jelly and colored jelly strands.
• Fruit: banana, jackfruit, longan, lychee and pomelo pith.
• Coconut: coconut milk or cream, sometimes shredded coconut.
• Sweeteners: white sugar, rock sugar or palm sugar.
• Aromatics: pandan leaf and ginger.

The texture is as important as the flavor. A good chè often mixes something soft, something chewy and something creamy.

Hot chè vs cold chè

Warm chè is common in cooler weather and in the evening. Examples include chè trôi nước (glutinous rice balls in ginger syrup), chè chuối (banana in coconut milk) and warm sticky rice chè.

Cold chè is served in a glass with crushed ice and is everywhere in hot weather. Chè ba màu and chè thái are classic cold styles. You eat them with a long spoon, stirring the layers together as you go.

Some chè can go either way depending on the season and the vendor.

Common types to know

• Chè đậu xanh: mung bean chè, simple and comforting.
• Chè đậu đỏ: red bean chè.
• Chè ba màu: layered "three-color" chè. See chè ba màu, the three-color dessert.
• Chè chuối: banana with coconut milk and tapioca.
• Chè trôi nước: stuffed rice balls in ginger syrup.
• Chè bưởi: pomelo pith with mung beans.
• Chè thái: a cold mix of fruits and jellies.

Regional differences

Chè is eaten across the country, but styles vary:

• The South tends to use more coconut milk and likes sweeter, richer chè with many toppings.
• The North often has simpler, less sweet chè, sometimes thicker, and some Northern versions use little or no coconut milk.
• Huế in central Vietnam is known for an especially wide range of chè, sold in small portions so you can try several.

Is chè a dessert or a snack?

Both. Chè is eaten after meals, but just as often as an afternoon snack from a street stall or shop. It also appears at festivals and family gatherings, and some types have ritual or seasonal roles, such as sweet soups offered at certain lunar calendar occasions.

A simple recipe: chè đậu xanh (mung bean sweet soup)

This is one of the easiest chè to make at home. Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (200 g) peeled split mung beans
• 5 cups (1.2 liters) water
• 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar, or to taste
• 1 pandan leaf, tied in a knot (optional)
• 1 cup (240 ml) coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon tapioca starch or cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water (optional)

Steps

1. Rinse the mung beans until the water runs mostly clear. Soak them for 1 to 2 hours if you have time; it shortens cooking.
2. Put the beans, water and pandan leaf in a pot. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the beans are soft and starting to break down.
3. Stir in the sugar and cook for 5 more minutes. Taste and adjust. Remove the pandan leaf.
4. For the coconut sauce, warm the coconut milk with the salt in a small pan. Stir in the starch slurry if you want it thicker, and heat until it lightly thickens. Do not boil hard.
5. Serve the mung bean chè warm in bowls with a spoonful of coconut sauce on top, or chill it and serve over crushed ice.

Tips: If the chè thickens too much as it cools, stir in a little hot water. Toasted sesame seeds or crushed roasted peanuts make a nice topping.

Allergen notes

Chè often contains coconut. Toppings may include peanuts or sesame, and some versions use dairy such as condensed milk. Ask at shops if you have allergies.

If you enjoy this, the next step is Vietnamese desserts: 15 to know and try.

Make a pot of mung bean chè first; once you have the bean and coconut sauce technique down, most other chè are variations on the same idea.