
''Chè'' () is any traditional
Vietnamese sweet beverage, dessert soup or stew,
or
pudding. ''Chè'' includes a wide variety of distinct soups or puddings.
Varieties of Chè can be made with
mung beans,
black-eyed peas,
kidney beans,
tapioca,
jelly (clear or grass),
fruit
(
longan,
mango,
durian,
lychee or
jackfruit
The jackfruit or ''nangka'' (''Artocarpus heterophyllus'') is a species of tree in the Common fig, fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae).
The jackfruit is the largest tree fruit, reaching as much as in weight, in length, and in d ...
), and coconut cream. Other types are made with ingredients such as
salt
In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
,
aloe vera
''Aloe vera'' () is a succulent plant species of the genus ''Aloe''. It is widely distributed, and is considered an invasive species in many world regions.
An evergreen perennial plant, perennial, it originates from the Arabian Peninsula, but ...
, seaweed,
lotus seed,
sesame seed,
sugar palm seeds,
taro,
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...
and
pandan leaf extract. Some varieties, such as ''
chè trôi nước'', may also include dumplings. ''Chè'' are often prepared with one of a number of varieties of beans, tubers, and/or
glutinous rice, cooked in water and sweetened with
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
. In southern Vietnam, ''chè'' are often garnished with coconut creme.
''Chè'' may be served either hot or cold, and eaten with a bowl and spoon or drunk in a glass.
Each variety of ''chè'' is designated by a descriptive word or phrase that follows the word ''chè'', such as ''chè đậu đỏ'' (literally "
red bean ''chè''").
''Chè'' may be made at home, but are also commonly sold in plastic cups at Vietnamese grocery stores.
In northern Vietnam, ''chè'' is also the word for the
tea plant.
Tea is also known as ''nước chè'' in the North or more commonly ''trà'' in both regions.
Varieties
There is a nearly endless variety of named dishes with the prefix ''chè'', and thus it is impossible to produce a complete list. What follows is a list of the most typical traditional varieties of ''chè''.
Beans and pulses
*''Chè đậu đen'' - made from
black turtle beans; one of the most popular varieties of ''chè'', particularly for northern Vietnamese
*''
Chè đậu đỏ'' - made from
azuki beans, usually using whole beans, rarely using ground beans.
*''Chè đậu huyết'' - made from
red beans.
*''Chè đậu ngự'' - made from ''
Phaseolus lunatus'' (or moon beans) - specialty in
Huế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
, an imperial dish
*''Chè đậu phụng'' (or ''chè lạc'') - made from
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...
s
*''Chè đậu trắng'' - made from
black-eyed peas. Oftentimes, this dessert is just referred to as ''chè đậu'' as it is one of the most common bean dessert for southern Vietnamese.
*''Chè đậu ván'' - made from ''
Dolichos lablab'' (hyacinth beans); a specialty in
Huế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
*''Chè đậu xanh'' - made from whole
mung beans
**''Chè đậu xanh rong biển'' - made from mung beans and
kelp
**''Chè đậu xanh đánh - made from ground mung beans
**''Chè đậu đãi'' - made from ground skinless mung beans (''đãi'' means to remove the skin)
**''Chè hoa cau'' - a northern dish made from ground skinless mung beans with betel nut flower-shape (or ''chè táo xọn'', uses less mung beans)
Rice, grains, tubers and cereals
*''Chè bánh lọt'' - made from ''
bánh lọt'' - a cake from
Huế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
(''lọt'' means "to sift").
*''Chè bắp'' (or ''chè ngô'') - made from
corn seeds and tapioca rice pudding
*''Chè bí đỏ'' - made from
pumpkin
A pumpkin is a cultivar, cultivated winter squash in the genus ''Cucurbita''. The term is most commonly applied to round, orange-colored squash varieties, but does not possess a scientific definition. It may be used in reference to many dif ...
*''Chè cốm'' - made from young rice
*''Chè củ năng'' (or ''chè mã thầy'') - made from
water chestnuts
*''Chè củ súng'' - made from
water lily bulbs
*''Chè hạt lựu'' - in this dish, rice paste are cut into
pomegranate seed-shaped pieces.
*''Chè hạt sen'' - made from
lotus seeds
**''Chè sen dừa - made from lotus seeds and coconut water
**''Chè củ sen'' - made from lotus tubers
*''Chè kê'' - made from
millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae.
Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...
*''Chè khoai lang'' - made from
sweet potato
*''Chè khoai mài'' (or ''chè củ mài'') - made from ''
Dioscorea persimilis''
*''Chè khoai mì'' (or ''chè sắn'') - made from
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...
flour
**''Chè sắn lát'' - made from sliced cassava
*''Chè khoai môn'' - made from
taro
**''Chè môn sáp vàng'' - made from a variety of taro grown in
Huế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
*''Chè khoai mỡ'' (or ''chè khoai tía'') - made from ''
Dioscorea alata''
*''Chè khoai tây'' - made from
potato
The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...
*''Chè khoai từ'' (or ''chè củ từ'') - made from ''
Dioscorea esculenta''
*''
Chè mè đen'' - made from black
sesame seeds
*''Chè sen'' - made from thin vermicelli and jasmine flavoured syrup
Jellies
*''Chè thạch'' or chè rau câu - made from
agar agar
**''Chè thạch lựu'' - made from seaweed and other pomegranate seed-shaped tapioca pearls.
**''Chè thạch sen'' - made from seaweed and lotus seeds
*''Sương sâm'' - jelly with ''
Tiliacora triandra'' extract
*''Sương sáo'' -
Grass jelly
*''Chè thạch sen'' - thin, vermicelli-like jellies.
Dumplings
*''Chè bột lọc'' from small cassava and rice flour dumplings
*''Chè con ong'' (; so named because this dish is viscous and yellow, like honey) - made from
glutinous rice,
ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...
root, honey, and
molasses– this is a northern dish, usually cooked to offer to the ancestors at
Tết.
*''Chè bánh xếp'' - green beans wrapped in a tapioca skin dumpling, eaten in a coconut milk base with smaller pieces of tapioca. Translated to English, the dish is "folded cake dessert".
*
Chè trôi nước or Bánh chay - balls made from mung bean paste in a shell made of glutinous rice flour; served in a thick clear or brown liquid made of water, sugar, and grated
ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...
root.
Fruits and plants
*''Chè chuối'' - made from
bananas
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – berry (botany), botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called pla ...
and
tapioca (Vietnamese: ''bột báng'' or ''bột năng''). Traditionally served warm.
*''Chè dưa hấu'' - made from
watermelon
The watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a Glossary of botanical terms#scandent, scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is plant breeding ...
*''Chè nhãn'' - made from
longan
*''Chè xoài'' - made from
mango
*''Chè bưởi'' - made from
pomelo oil and slivered rind
*''Chè sầu riêng'' - made from
durian
Mixed
*''Chè ba màu'' () - usually including green
mung beans, white
black-eyed peas, and red
azuki beans, although people can cook with any ingredients making any three colours they like (compare with
halo halo).
*''Chè đậu đỏ bánh lọt'' - red beans and ''
bánh lọt''.
*''Chè thập cẩm'' (chè lẫn) meaning ''ten-ingredient sweet soup'' or ''mixed sweet soup'' is a mixture of various kinds of ingredients such as
black-eyed peas,
azuki beans,
lotus seeds,
mung beans,
coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
, syrup,
ice cream, milk and
trân châu. This is one of the most popular forms of ''chè'' served in Vietnam.
*''Chè trái cây'' (or ''chè hoa quả'') - mixture of different
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
s including
pineapple
The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae.
The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...
,
watermelon
The watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a Glossary of botanical terms#scandent, scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is plant breeding ...
,
apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
,
pear
Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the Family (biology), family Rosaceae, bearing the Pome, po ...
, mango,
lychee, dried
banana,
cherry, and dried
coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
with
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
,
yogurt
Yogurt (; , from , ; also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to ...
, and
syrup
In cooking, syrup (less commonly sirup; from ; , beverage, wine and ) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a Solution (chemistry), solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but ...
*''
Chè bà ba'' - made from taro,
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...
and ''khoai lang bí'', a kind of long
sweet potato, with red skin and yellow flesh.
*''Chè bà cốt'' - made from expanded glutinous rice
*''Chè thưng'' - name translates to combo dessert in Vietnamese. One version is made from dried red
jujube,
peanut
The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...
, and dried ''
Auricularia auricula-judae'' fungus, while another is made from taro, cassava, green bean, sea weed, and water chestnuts
Savory chè (chè mặn)
*''Chè lạp xường'' - made from
Chinese sausage
*''Chè trứng đỏ'' - made from eggs and other ingredients
*''Chè trứng'' - served with boiled eggs, either hot or cold, in a sweet soup base or sweet tea
*''Chè bột lọc heo quay'' - made from
bánh bột lọc filled with roasted pork
*''Chè cá rô đồng'' - made from
climbing perch
Foreign chè
*''
Bubur cha cha'' or ''Bocha'' - a Vietnamese interpretation of a popular sweet soup originating from Malaysia and Singapore, found in Hanoi.
*''Chè Thái'' - a sweet fruit soup, which is believed to be a version of
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
's ''
tub tim krob'', but the Vietnamese version uses a variety of tropical fruits, while the Thai version uses strictly water chestnuts.
Gallery
File:Chè khúc bạch ở quán Thảo Vy 2020 09 06.jpg, Chè khúc bạch
File:Making che at home in Hanoi, August 2003 2.jpg, Some ingredients to make a bowl of chè thập cẩm
File:Chè bà ba.jpg, Chè bà ba
File:Chè Bắp.jpg, Chè bắp
File:Chè đỗ xanh.jpg, Chè đỗ xanh
File:Chè Thạch Trắng Đậu Xanh Nhãn Nhục.JPG, Chè Thạch Trắng Đậu Xanh Nhãn Nhục
File:Chè đậu xanh nha đam.jpg, Chè đậu xanh nha đam
File:Chè đậu trắng 1.jpg, Chè đậu trắng
File:Chè hạt sen Đông Hà nhà làm vào năm 2016.jpg, Chè hạt sen
File:Chè đậu đen nhà làm (tháng 1 năm 2018) (4).jpg, Chè đậu đen
File:Banhchay.JPG, A bowl of Bánh chay
File:Banana, tapioca, coconut creme Vietnamese pudding (che chuoi) - 28356997961.jpg, Chè chuối
File:Chè xí má ở Hội An - Xi ma in Hoi An, Vietname.jpg, Chè xí má
File:Sủi dìn.jpg, Sủi dĩn
File:Tráng miệng.JPG, Chè hoa quả
File:Seaweed taro dessert.jpg, Chè khoai môn
File:Mango pudding by Bach Tran in Le Thanh Ton, Ho Chi Minh City.jpg, Chè xoài
See also
*
Vietnamese cuisine
Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages originated from Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes (): sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and Piquant, spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish reflects one or more ...
*
Cendol
*
Halo halo
*
Boba tea
*
Tong sui
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Che
Puddings
Vietnamese desserts
Vietnamese soups