Chè ba màu — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

A visually stunning Vietnamese dessert drink featuring three colorful layers of sweetened red beans, green pandan jelly, and golden mung bean paste, topped with crushed ice and coconut cream.

Ingredients

200g dried red beans
200g dried mung beans, hulled
1 packet pandan jelly powder or agar agar with pandan extract
400ml coconut cream
200g sugar, divided
1 teaspoon pandan extract
Green food coloring (optional)
Crushed ice for serving
Pinch of salt for coconut cream

Instructions

1 Cook red beans in water with a third of the sugar until soft and slightly broken down but not mushy, about forty-five minutes, then cool.
2 Cook hulled mung beans in water with another third of sugar until very soft, then mash into a smooth paste and cool.
3 Prepare pandan jelly by dissolving agar powder with remaining sugar and pandan extract in water, pour into a flat dish, chill until set, then cut into small cubes.
4 Make the coconut cream topping by warming coconut cream with a pinch of salt until combined and smooth, then chill.
5 Layer each tall glass starting with red beans on the bottom, mung bean paste in the middle, and pandan jelly cubes on top.
6 Fill each glass with crushed ice and pour coconut cream over everything, serving with a long spoon.

Did You Know?

Che ba mau translates literally to three-color sweet soup. There are over fifty varieties of che in Vietnamese cuisine, making it one of the most diverse dessert categories in Southeast Asian cooking.