Che Chuoi - Banana Coconut Pudding

Che Chuoi - Banana Coconut Pudding

Che coconut Dessert sweet Vietnamese

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Not only am I not a huge fan of dessert, I don't even like eating bananas.  Oddly there is something so comforting and tasty about a bowl of che chuoi, and it's making me break all my rules.  My sister-in-law taught me how to make this che over the phone, so it's quite simple to make.

This che does require a specific type of banana, the short Asian bananas (looks like baby bananas).  I'm sure you can use regular bananas but it won't taste as good.  The short bananas has more starch, is more firm, and is less sweet than regular bananas.  It will hold up better during the cooking process and there will be more of a bite to it (regular bananas will get too mushy).  Make sure the bananas are ripe before making this che otherwise these short bananas will have a bitter taste. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 hand of RIPED banana (the short Asian kind if possible)
1 can of coconut
2 cups of cubed cassava roots (I use the frozen kind)
1/4 cup of tapioca pearls
sugar
salt
water

1.  Cut bananas down about 1 inch in length.  Marinate bananas with about 5 tablespoon of sugar, let it marinate overnight so you can make it the next day.

2.  Boil the cassava roots until it's about 60% done, you will finish cooking it in the coconut milk.  I like my cassava roots pretty firm otherwise it will fall apart.  Cube the cassava roots to about 1/2 inch.

3.  Wash your tapioca pearls.

4.  Pour the entire can of coconut milk in a large pot on medium heat.  Fill up that coconut milk can with water and stir it in with the coconut milk.
5.  Add the cubed cassava roots and the tapioca pearl.  Add about 4-5 tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of salt.  More or less sugar depending on how sweet you like, don't forget the bananas were marinated with additional sugar.
6.  Let the cassava roots cook in the coconut milk until the tapioca pearl has expand.
7.  Add the marinated bananas.  Let the bananas cook until it's tender.  I like my bananas firm so it's about 10 minutes.
8.  Transfer to bowl and enjoy with roasted peanuts.

Blueberry Bread Pudding w/ Condensed Milk Sauce

Blueberry Bread Pudding w/ Condensed Milk Sauce

Dessert

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Anybody who knows me, know I am not a dessert person.  I don't like sweet very much, and I probably have my mom to thank for that.  My mom didn't let me have a lot of sweets growing up.  So I usually passed on cakes and cookies.  I don't know what it is about bread pudding that draws me to it so much.  Every time there is bread pudding on the menu I have to order it.  There's something so comforting to me about pudding and i'm the same way with french toast.

I've been playing around with bread pudding a lot lately, making it at least once and sometimes even twice a week.  You can turn pretty much any dessert into a bread pudding!  Have anybody ever had freshly baked baguettes dipped in condensed milk?  If you haven't, you need to try it!  And that's where I got my inspiration for this recipe.  I hope you all will enjoy this amazing dessert! 

Ingredients:

1 loaf of French bread

3 eggs

2.5-3 cups of heavy cream (this depends on how firm you want it to be)

2 cups of sugar (more or less depends on your taste)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 cup of blueberry

1 cup of milk

1/4 cup of condensed milk

1.   Tear bread into smaller pieces.

2.  Mix sugar and heavy cream together first, this way you can taste it in case you want to adjust the sweetness.  Add eggs, vanilla, and nutmeg to the mixture, and mix with a whisk.  

3.  Add the bread to the wet ingredients and combine.  I find it easier to use your hand with gloves.  Make sure everything piece of bread is soaked in the wet mixture.  Fold in the blueberry.  And let everything sit for about 15-20 minutes.  

4.  Pre-heat oven to about 300 degrees.

5.  Butter a baking pan and then start stuffing it with the bread mixture.  Because I like my bread pudding a little firm, I make sure I pack the pan pretty tightly.  

6.  Put in the oven for about 40 minutes.  Then I take it out and brush the top with some butter (this will help it form the delicious crust at the top), put it back in the over turn it up to about 350 degrees for another 15 minutes or until you get that golden brown crust.  

7.   In a pot combine the milk and condensed milk.  Cook it on medium heat, mix thoroughly and let it cook until the two ingredients blend together. 

8.  Let the bread pudding cool completely. 

9.  Cut out a piece and serve it on top of a bath of sauce or you can just dip it in the sauce.  

10.  Enjoy!

Che Sam Bo Luong

Che Sam Bo Luong

Chinese Dessert Soup Vietnamese

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My dad is a part-time herbalist, a position that was passed down in the family.  Family and friends often ask him to prescribe herbal medicine to help relieve certain ailment.  He makes herbal medicine in all forms such as powder, liquid, dough, etc;  I just know they all taste god awful.  It's basically ground dried roots, plants, and tree barks how can you expect it to taste any good.  He always assured us that it was good for us, they are nature's medicine.  I try to stay clear of his herbal medicine except for one exception, when I want to make Che Sam Bo Luong.

Sam Bo Luong is a sweet soup of Chinese origin.  Ingredients for this sweet soup varies but jujube(Chinese dried dates), dried logan, seaweed(kelp), white fungus, pearl barley, and lotus seeds are the usual suspects.  Each of these ingredients have a medicinal usage therefore this dessert is often deemed as good for your health. My dad says every ingredient has either a "cooling" or "burning" effect to your body, like a ying yang effect.  Therefore it is important that we consume both kinds of food to attain a balance.  I'm glad this soup is considered good for you because it is delicious.  On a hot summer day, you simply cannot get enough of this dessert!

You may have trouble finding certain ingredients especially if you only have access to a smaller Asian grocery store.  We have had some trouble finding pearl barley at the market but my dad usually have a lot in stock from the herbal shop.

Ingredients:

seaweed/kelp (the ones used to make seaweed salad dark green in color that looks like long ribbons)
lotus seeds
pearl barley
white fungus
dried dates/jujube
dried logan

1. You'll need to rinse and rehydrate most the ingredients except the dried dates and dried logans.  The kelp will require a lot of rinsing because it may contain a lot of sand/dirt.  You can soak the dried ingredients overnight or boil them for instant use.
2.  Soak the kelp in warm water after a good amount of rinsing and then cut them up into 3 inch ribbons.  Soak the white fungus in a warm water and chop them into smaller pieces.
3.  Boil the lotus and barley to soften it up but you don't want to cook them all the way through.  About 10-15 minutes in boiling water will do.
4.  Fill a 10 qt. pot with water and add 2-3 cups of brown sugar.  You can add more or less sugar to your liking.  This is suppose to be sweet soup after all so it is usually made very sweet and eaten with crushed iced.
5.  Once the water has come to a boil, add the barley, lotus seeds, and kelp.  Let that cook until tender. Then add the white fungus, dried dates, and dried logan.
6.  Once you attain the sweetness to your liking and all the ingredients has become tender, you can turn off the heat.
7.  This sweet soup taste best when chilled or eaten with ice.  Enjoy!

Che Troi Nuoc - Glutinous Rice Ball Dessert

Che Troi Nuoc - Glutinous Rice Ball Dessert

Che Dessert Vietnamese

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Che Troi Nuoc, literally translated as dessert floating in water.  Everybody in my family loves this dessert.  My mom and dad are expert mochi baller.  When I was little, they use to make it together but now my sister-in-law and I have taken over that duty.  Our balling technique is no where close to my parents.  While theirs are perfectly round and uniform, ours are lumpy at times and all different sizes.  Hopefully practice will make perfect!

This dessert is made by balling glutinous rice dough with a mung beans filling.  The glutinous rice ball is then serve in a bath of ginger syrup.  If you have ever eaten this dessert you will know there are two type of rice balls.  The bigger ones are usually filled with mung beans and the smaller ones is just plain glutinous rice dough.  My favorite is definitely the smaller balls because it soaks up the ginger syrup better than the bigger one.  What I love about this Che is the savory aspect of it.  While the ginger syrup is sweet the filling is actually salty.  The mung beans is seasoned with salt, ground pepper, and pig's fat.  So when you cut into a filled rice ball you will taste both sweet and salt.

While I have made this Che a few times by myself, I'm much more comfortable making it with my family.  There are a lot of steps that is difficult to explain especially the making of the dough and the balling technique.  For that reason I have found a YouTube video that explain those technique very well and it would be a good reference than my instruction.  I will provide the recipe for making the mung bean filling, the ginger syrup, and coconut sauce.  Good luck and happy cooking!

Ingredients:

1 16 oz bag of glutinous rice flour
1/2 12 oz bag of split mung beans
1 can of coconut milk
tapioca flour
ginger (about a knob
water
2 stalks of green onions minced
salt
ground pepper
vegetable oil
water

Mung Bean Filling:

1.  If possible soak the mung beans in water for 2-3 hours.  This will help the bean soften and it will be easier to cook.  You'll want to wash the beans a couple time before soaking to get rid of the yellow coloring.
2.  Cooking the mung beans is very similar to cooking rice on the stove top.  In a pot, you'll want to add enough water to cover the beans and about 1 teaspoon of salt and then cook it on very low heat.  Let the beans soften more and expand.  If most of the water has evaporated before the mung bean has soften and expand just add little bit more hot water to the pot and let it continue to cook.
3.  Once the beans has soften enough, take a soup spoon and mash the beans into a smooth dough.  At this point you will want add the green onions, about 2 teaspoon of vegetable oil, and the ground pepper (about 1 teaspoon) to the mung beans.  Continue to mash and mix everything together into a smooth dough.  Add more salt if needed.
4.  Let the mung bean mixture cool and then you can knead it into small ball.  You can refer to the video.

Ginger Syrup:  

Not all ginger syrup is the same, it really depends on personal preference.  Some people prefer it to be more subtle like a liquid then a thicker syrup.  If you it want it to be a like syrup you'll want to use less water and more sugar.  If you want more of a subtle and light taste you'll want to use more water.  I prefer more of a syrup.

1.  Dissolved 2 cups of sugar with 6 cups of water in a pot on low heat.  Add about 1-2 knob of ginger sliced.

Coconut Sauce:

1.  Heat up a can of coconut milk on the stove.  Taste it with a pinch of salt.  Sprinkle some tapioca flour into the coconut milk to help thicken it and stir well.

Che Ba Mau - Vietnamese Three Color Dessert

Che Ba Mau - Vietnamese Three Color Dessert

Dessert Vietnamese

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Che Ba Mau meaning Three Color Dessert; consist of YELLOW

mung bean paste, GREEN agar strips, and RED beans. It looks and taste pretty similar to Suong Sa Hot Luu but there are some differences. We use red beans in Che Ba Mau and a different type of agar. Suong Sa Hot Luu uses a grass jelly agar which has a really distinct grassy taste and a dirty pondgreen color. You can make your own agar strips but to save time I just buy a can of agar called Suong Sam, it's lime green in color and has a lighter taste than grass jelly. Finally we usually sweeten Che Ba Mau with condense milk. I like faux pomegranate seeds so I like to include it in my Che Ba Mau as well.

I have to admit Che Ba Mau is pretty time consuming and tricky to make. Making the red beans and mung beans can be a nightmare. You have to cook it on really low heat over a long period of time. I've burned quite a few batch over the years. I recommend soaking the mung beans and red beans overnight.

Ingredients:

1 can of Suong Sam agar

2 cups of red beans (soak in water overnight)

2 cups of already peeled and split mung beans (soak in water over night)

1 can of coconut milk

condense milk

rock sugar

faux pomegranate seeds

finely crushed ice (prepare with a blender)

1. Rinse the red beans in water until the beans no longer makes the water cloudy.

2. Boil 5 cups of water in a pot and throw in a medium size rock sugar. Drain the red beans and pour into pot. Cook the red beans on low heat for around 2 hours or so. Once tender, drain and set aside for later.

3. Prepare the mung bean paste (refer to my Suong Sa Hot Luu entry for cooking instruction).

4. Prepare the faux pomegranate seeds (refer to my Suong Sa Hot Luu entry)

5. Slice the Suong Sam agar into strips.

6. Heat a can of coconut milk in a small pot and add 2 tablespoon of sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved, let cook for later use.

7. Prepare the crushed ice.

8. In a bowl, spread some mung bean paste at the bottom of the bowl. Second add agar strips, next the red beans, and then the faux pomegranate seeds. You can prepare these bowls ahead of time and store in fridge.

9. Before serving, add the condense milk to the bowl and then top off with some crushed ice. Finally drizzle the condense milk at the very end, depends on how sweet you like it add as much as you like.

Mix and enjoy!

Che Suong Sa Hot Luu - Tapioca in Coconut Milk Desert

Che Suong Sa Hot Luu - Tapioca in Coconut Milk Desert

Dessert Vietnamese

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I fell in love with this dessert on my latest visit to Vietnam. The ones I tried from the States are overly sweet, the ones in Vietnam are not as heavy and more refreshing. I love eating the "hot luu" which are suppose to be mock pomegranate seed made from tapioca and jicama. It's like eating the tapioca balls in bubble tea but with something in the center. I made this che on a hot sunny day during my last trip home and it was a hit! My mom really appreciate me making a batch for everybody because she thought it was such as hassle, but it really isn't that bad to make.

You simply prepare are the components of the che; I used suong sa, hot luu, mung beans, coconut milk, sugar water, and crushed ice. Once that is all done you can just put together a cup to your liking. To cut back one some of the work I used canned suong sa which tasted just as good, but you can always make your own. I couldn't find any fresh jicama so I used canned water chestnut. Semi-homemade didn't cut back on taste here!

Ingredients:

simple syrup (2 part sugar to 1 part water)
1 can of coconut milk
1 cup of already peeled and split mung bean
1 bag of tapioca start
1 can 14 oz can of water chestnut
2 can of suong sa ( I bought two different version, one in a lime green color and one that dark greenish black)
red food coloring

Preparation:

1. Wash mung beans.  Soak in hot water until soft.
2.Prepare simple syrup and then chill in fridge.
3. Cut dark suong sa into cubes, and lime green suong sa into long strips.

3. Soak the mung beans in water.
3. Dice up the water chestnuts.  Mix with red food coloring to make the faux pomegranate.
4. Place tapioca starch into a large mixing bowl. Separate the faux pomegranate into 3-4 batch.  Add first batch of water chestnut to the tapioca starch and mix.   Use a strainer so it's easier to separate.  Keep adding tapioca starch to the water chestnut until it is evenly coated.  Shake off the excess.

5. Boil some water in a pot. Prepare a cold bowl of water with some ice cubes.
6. Once the water boil add the first batch of tapioca/water chestnut mixture to the pot. The tapioca mixture will coagulate use chopstick to help separate the huge clumps.
7. Once the red "pomegranate seed" float to the top, dump the whole pot into a colander and rinse with cold water. Place fresh "pomegranate seed" aside in the the bowl of ice water to cool. You can remove pomegranate seed from ice bath once it has cooled.
8. Repeat with remaining batch of water chestnut. You don't have to change tapioca starch between batch.  Add more starch if needed.
9. Strain the water from the mung beans. Boil mung beans1/2 cup of water on low heat. Boil until all the water have been absorbed and mung bean are soft. Remove from heat and mash into a paste (I used a potato masher).

10. Boil the coconut milk. Set aside to cool.

Now it's time to build your che!  I put a layer of pomegranate seed at the bottom, grass jelly, mung beans, more pomegranate, simple syrup, coconut milk, and then ice.  The great thing about this dessert is you can control the sweetness by adding more or less syrup.  Enjoy!

Che Thai - Fruits in Coconut Milk

Che Thai - Fruits in Coconut Milk

Dessert Fruits

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I'm not a sweets person so I pass on desserts about 99% of the time. My parents, on the other hand, are major sweets junkie. they especially love to eat che! I never really got into making Vietnamese dessert but I really do want to change that. But if you ask anybody in my family they will vouch that I can whip up a good cup of Che Thai.

Che Thai is a Vietnamese adaptation of a Thai dessert. I much prefer the Vietnamese version because the Thai version is too sweet for me. It's basically fresh fruits in a coconut/milk mixture. Back in Vietnam you can pretty much smell this dessert a mile away because it often contain durian (sau rieng), a very pungent fruit. In fact if you are not eating true Che Thai if it does not contain sau rieng according to my mom. I grew accustomed to the the Americanize version you often find a Vietnamese bakeries where it is more milk base. Half and half milk is often used because it's a lot more "beo", beo is the Vietnamese term to describe food that are rich and fatty.

We don't have the pleasure of using fresh fruits but canned fruits will do. I usually stick with jack fruits, logans, lychees, coconut gels, and palm seeds. You can add a variety of other things such as tapioca pearls, agar strands, thach (Vietnamese jello), and etc. I like playing around with Knox gelatin because if you make it just right it does have this chewy texture that I just love. I had a a lot of variations of Che Thai, and I try to incorporate different elements I like. I'm always careful not to make it too sweet. It must be the right about of sweetness, to the point where you can down couple cup without feeling overwhelm. You can definitely make this dessert ahead of time because it always taste better the next day. This is such a versatile dessert so please play around with this recipe!

I found these "green worm" dessert at our local Vietnamese market, and it would look so pretty in the Che Thai. I also picked up some food coloring so I can play around with the colors, too bad the pictures did not turn out too well due to my awful lighting. Don't worry it still taste great! Just add some crushed ice and you have yourself a refreshing treat.


Ingredients:


1/2 gallon + 4 cups of 2% milk
1/2 gallon of half and half milk
1/2 can of coconut milk
2 can of jackfruits
1 can of logans
1 can of lychees
1 jar of coconut gel
1 jar of palm seeds
1 box of Knox gelatin
sugar
food coloring (optional)

Milk Gelatin:

1. Boil 3 cups of milk with 3 tablespoon of sugar.
2. Sprinkle for package of gelatin on top of 1 cup of cold milk.
3. Combine boild milk and cold milk and stir until everthing dissolved.
4. Add a couple drops of red food coloring.
5. Pour in a container and freeze for about 20-30 minutes.

Che Thai:

1. Drain and sliced all the fruits into smaller pieces (except for coconut gel and palm seeds).
2. Combine 1/2 gallon of 2% milk, 1/2 gallon of half and half milk, 1/2 can of coconut milk, 1 cup of sugar, and couple drop of green food coloring. Stir everything together.
3. Pour int he whole can of palm seeds even the syrup, the same goes for the coconut gel.
4. Add the sliced fruits.
5. Take the gelatin out of the freezer and cut into 1cm cub. Add to the milk.
6. Give it one last tasting, add more sugar if you like it sweeter.