All posts filed under: desserts

Viet Style Strawberry & Banana Shake / Sinh Tố Dâu Chuối

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Summer is when strawberries are in season and are abundant at any farmer’s market. A great way to serve strawberries is our delicious strawberry and banana shake or  sinh tố dâu chuối. This is my mom’s recipe for a delightful afternoon treat. Ingredients: 6 large strawberries 1 banana 1 5.3oz lowfat yogurt (we used chobani greek yogurt with strawberry and banana) 1 tablespoon of condense milk 1 tablespoon of sugar ¼ cup of milk 1 cup of ice Directions: Combined all the ingredients into a blender and blend until you have a smooth consistency.   For more recipes, visit our EAT page or Recipe Index. Authors: Susan Tran and Chau Hoang

Viet Style Avocado Shake / Sinh Tố Bơ

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In Vietnam, avocados are used for sweet desserts and not savory dishes like the ones in the western world. Avocado shake literally translates to “butter fruit shake” in Vietnamese and that aptly describes this confection. Step into any Vietnamese restaurant and you’ll see avocado shake on the menu. This is not a healthy shake by any means due to the condense milk, but it is treat. This shake has a consistency of a light pudding so I have always considered this to be a dessert drink. On an interesting note, avocado was introduced by the French and given its name,  trái bơ or butter fruit, due to the buttery richness of the flesh. Enjoy this wonderful shake anytime of the day. Ingredients: 2 Ripe Haas avocados 1/4 cup of vanilla yogurt 1/2 cup of milk 1 and 1/4 cup of ice 2 tablespoons of condense milk   Directions: Using a spoon, scoop out the avocado flesh into the blender.   Add yogurt, milk, ice and condense milk.   Blend until you have a smooth consistency. …

Vietnamese Caramel Flan

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One of my favorite dessert growing up is my mother’s flan. My mother’s version is creamy and fluffy. Her trick is to steam the flan instead of the traditional baking method. This method only takes 15 minutes to cook and the flan comes out perfect every time. This is an easy and elegant dessert for anytime of the day. Impress your guests at the next dinner party with this make ahead dessert. This dessert is rated easy and takes 30 minutes to prepare and another hour to chill in the fridge before serving. This recipe makes approximately 5 servings. Ingredients 6 large eggs 2 cups of whole milk 1 lime 18 tablespoons of sugar (8 for the batter and 10 for the caramel) 5 oven proof baking cups Steamer that fits 5 baking cups Directions Make the egg batter: Crack 6 eggs into a mixing bowl. Using a whisk, slowly stir to break up the eggs. Don’t beat it hard and fast as it will add air bubbles to the batter. This changes the batter …

Easy Vietnamese Sweet Corn Pudding / Chè Bắp

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Chè bắp has many variations in the Vietnamese cuisine depending on which region it comes from. Usually the preparation includes manually shaving sweet corn kernels and simmering the pudding for at least 30 minutes. Being a busy professional, it is hard to have enough time to cook the traditional way. My cousin modified a recipe used at the restaurants for home cook to make chè bắp easily. I like to serve it warm with a dollop of coconut sauce. This pudding is great for anytime of the day. This recipe is very easy and takes less than 30 minutes to make. Ingredients 1 ¼ cup of glutinous rice (sweet rice) 2 (14-ounce) cans of sweet corn, cream style with no salt added 1 (14-ounce) can of whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed (low sodium) 1 (14-ounce)  can of coconut cream 3 packets of vanilla sugar or vanilla extract 1 teaspoon of cornstarch 1 cups of sugar for the pudding and 2 tablespoons of sugar for the coconut sauce salt    Directions Prepare the pudding: Wash the rice …

Pandan and Coconut Waffle / Bánh Kẹp Lá Dứa

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A popular street food among the locals, especially children, is pandan waffle or bánh kẹp lá dứa. This waffle is flavored with pandan and incorporates coconut milk in the batter. It is usually eaten plain since the waffle is already sweeten. This dish makes an excellent breakfast or snack. This recipe is rated easy and makes approximately three waffles (6 inches in diameter). Ingredients 3 eggs 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter melted 2 cups of flour 1 cup of coconut flake ½ cup of sugar ½ teaspoon of baking powder ⅛ teaspoon of salt ⅛ teaspoon of pandan syrup ⅛ teaspoon of vanilla extract ¾ cup of instant evaporated milk ½ cup of coconut milk Directions In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Heat the waffle maker. Pour the batter evenly and cook the waffle to the waffle maker’s directions. For our waffle maker, it takes 3 minutes per waffle, 1.5 minutes on each side. Sprinkle some powder sugar and serve warm. This recipe is also the basis for our chicken and waffle dish. Click here …

Chè Ba Màu / Tri-Color Dessert

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Chè ba màu is is a staple dessert available anytime of the year. You can easily find it at a Vietnamese restaurant. It is a dessert comprised of yellow mung bean, red beans, and green gelatin strips served with ice and topped with coconut milk.  It is usually a time consuming dessert to prepare because you have to make all three components.  In this recipe, we will make the mung bean and gelatin from scratch. We will use canned kidney beans to make the red component.  The recipe does use a lot of sugar but you will only need about 1 to 2 spoons of each component for 1 serving. This recipe makes approximately 6 servings, rated medium, and can take over an hour depending on how fast you cook and multi-task. Ingredients: 2 cans of dark kidney beans  1 can of coconut milk 2 cups of dried split mung beans or 2 cans of cannellini beans (if you can’t find dried split mung bean) Approximate 3 cups of sugar total for the recipe 1 tablespoon …

Chè Bông Cau / Sticky Mung Bean Pudding

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Chè is a traditional Vietnamese sweet pudding or soup like dessert often eaten in the afternoon or late at night. This dessert can be served warmed or chilled, depending on the ingredients.  There are over a dozen varieties of chè depending on the region of Vietnam.  Chè can be made with mung bean, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, tapioca, gelatin, dumplings or a variety of fruits and is usually topped with a spoon of coconut cream.  Today, we will introduce a basic but delicious chè made of mung bean.  Chè bông cau or sticky mung bean dessert is made of whole steamed mung bean cooked in gelatinous simple syrup.  This snack is often a favorite of high school students on their way home from school. Ingredients: 2/3 cups of dried split mung bean 3 tablespoons of tapioca starch 5- 6 tablespoons of sugar (for the chè and the coconut milk) 1 can of coconut milk 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract (not pictured) Directions: Part 1:  Cooking the mung bean Steam 2/3 cup of dried split mung bean for 20 …

Thạch Dừa / Coconut Jelly

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When the weather is hot and humid, there is nothing like a refreshing bite of coconut jelly.  We all grew up with some sort of gelatin desserts.  In the US, it was Jell-O.  In Vietnam, it’s coconut jelly or thạch dừa.  This dessert is usually made with fresh coconut juice from the abundance of coconut trees in the country.  Luckily, coconut juice has gain tremendous popularity in the US with many different brands that are easily accessible at the supermarket.  I tried this recipe with Zico water and found that it works just as good and without the hard labor of opening coconuts!  You can use any coconut water as long as it is natural without any added sugar or preservatives.  In this recipe, I demonstrate how to create the coconut jelly the original way and the new way with Zico water. This recipe is rated easy and serves 1-2 coconut or 8 servings of 6-8 oz jars. Ingredients 2 cups of coconut juice (use either Zico coconut water or fresh coconut juice) 1 teaspoon of agar agar …

Honeycomb Cake / Bánh Bò Nướng

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One of my favorite childhood treats is this sweet, fragrant and chewy sponge cake called bánh bò nướng.  The cake is made from rice flour, water, sugar, and yeast. It has a honeycomb-like appearance on the inside due to the presence of small air bubbles. This is why it is called a honeycomb cake. Coconut cream is included in the cake batter revealing a slight flavor and aroma of coconut.  It is a very simple recipe but the result lies in the baking technique which we are excited to show you in this post. Ingredients: 14 oz (approximately 1 package) of tapioca starch flour. This equals to 2 cups. 1 can coconut cream – 14 fluid oz 1 stick of unsalted butter and a little extra to coat the pan 2 cups of sugar 2 bags of Alsa baking powder (5 teaspoons of single acting baking powder) 8 eggs 2 bags of vanilla sugar or 2 tablespoons of good vanilla extract 1 tablespoon of pandan flavored paste or syrup (not essence) – preferred brand is …

Vietnamese Sesame Mochi Dessert in Ginger Syrup (Semi Homemade)

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Some of my favorite childhood afternoon snacks are a bowl of silken tofu custard topped with spoonfuls of ginger syrup or chè trôi nước.  The common denominator was the sweet and slightly spicy ginger syrup.  Unfortunately, it takes some time to make either of those desserts in the traditional way.  My mom came up with a brilliant solution for the semi-homemade snacks, which I will explore today. Chè  is a vietnamese sweet dessert “soup”.  It is generally filled with various ingredients from beans to gelatin in a “soup” form served as an afternoon snack on the streets of Vietnam.  Chè trôi nước is a Vietnamese dessert consisting of balls made from mung bean paste wrapped in a shell made of glutinous rice flour. The balls are served in a thick, sweet clear or brown liquid made of water, sugar, and grated ginger root.  In this post, we will tackle the easy version of chè trôi nước or sesame mochi dessert in a ginger syrup.  We will top this dessert with some coconut cream and toasted …