Hi Boox Popular Magazine 2024
Vietnamese cuisine is one of the most savoury and delicious in the world. They’re known for their spicy foods and tasty dishes, but what many don’t talk about are their delicious treats and desserts. One of the staples of the Vietnamese desserts is that they’re mostly made from fresh ingredients, so not only are they delicious, they’re quite healthy and refreshing as well.
If you’re planning on visiting Vietnam any time soon, we wanted to provide you with a list of some delicious treats that you must try when you visit. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at some of these desserts.
1. Che Ba Mau
One of the most popular desserts you can find in Vietnam is Che Ba Mau or Three-Colour Dessert. Now, there is no one way to make this treat since there are many, many variations. In general, it’s made up of mung bean paste, red beans and green pandan jelly, sometimes topped with coconut milk and shaved ice. However, you can add a lot of different toppings to it, so you can go as crazy and colourful as you want. What you’ll notice is that many Vietnamese desserts include pandan and mung beans, so if you ever want to make some of these yourself, make sure you got those two. Che Ba Mau is very refreshing and tasty, so make sure you try it once you visit.
2. Che Bap
One of the simplest and easiest Vietnamese desserts is Che Bap or what we might call a Sweet Corn Pudding. To be fair, it’s not really a pudding, it’s more of a sweet soup, but it’s delicious nevertheless. It’s made from, obviously, fresh sweet corn and coconut cream, rice, tapioca starch or some grapefruit. It’s sweet and savoury and it’s usually served in a glass. You can enjoy it both hot or cold, but when you’re in the tropical climate of Vietnam, you learn to appreciate the refreshing moment of a cold dessert. It can get quite sweet, so if that’s not what you prefer, you may ask for less coconut cream.
3. Che Ba Ba
Che Ba Ba is another traditional Vietnamese dessert, once again in the form of a sweet soup or a pudding. It’s made from sweet potatoes, tapioca flour, coconut milk, cassava and so on. This one is quite sweet and flavourful – quite intense if we’re being honest. There aren’t a lot of desserts you can try that are similar to this one. It’s quite unique, both in taste and texture, so make sure you try this one – you’ll never try anything similar to it ever again.
4. Ban Da Lon
Word of advice – don’t try and translate the name of this sweet treat. The name of this dessert literally translates to “pig skin cake”, but don’t worry, there’s no sign of pork or pig’s skin anywhere in this dessert. The name comes from the texture and the thickness of the layers, as it kind of resembles the skin. However, it tastes and eats so much better. it’s usually made from tapioca flour and mung beans, with the addition of pandan leaves that give this dessert a nice, vibrant green colour. The fun part is, you can eat this one layer by layer, without missing out on any flavours.
5. O Mai
O Mai is definitely one of the Vietnamese desserts you must try when you visit. And for more information about it, check out https://exploreonevietnam.com/vietnamese-desserts/.
It’s a very simple dessert if we can even call it that. Basically, O Mai is sun-dried fruit, most commonly apricots. Apricots, plums or tamarinds are left out in the sun to dry and when they’re done, they’re sometimes sprinkled with some sugar or ginger. This tasty bite is both sweet and sour at the same time, making it ideal for hot, tropical days of South East Asia.
6. Banh Tieu
This one can either be a dessert or snack – whichever you prefer. Banh Tieu is basically a Vietnamese doughnut sprinkled with sesame seeds. It is not too sweet, so if you wish, you can even make it a part of a regular meal. Unlike Western doughnuts, this one does not have a hole in the middle, even though the rest of it is quite similar. It’s nice and fluffy when you bite into it, so you should definitely try it when you have the chance.
7. Banh Duc Ngot
Banh Duc Ngot is not to be mistaken with a Banh Duc, which is a regular dish. Banh Duc Ngot is a sweet, delicious pandan rice cake, which means it will look as good as it tastes given the pandan’s vibrant green colour. However, don’t be mistaken, this one might look like jelly, but it’s not. It has a quite chewy texture. It’s most commonly served with coconut cream, but you could experiment with the sweet toppings, as rice cakes by themselves are pretty much flavourless. Also, this one will look very good on your Instagram feed, so don’t miss out on it!
8. Che Khun Bach
We’re staying in the realm of extremely good looking desserts. Che Khun Bach is a wonderful, gelatinous dessert that can taste pretty much however you like it. The gelatine can be sweetened to taste like chocolate or strawberries – whichever you like the best. Now, unlike most of the Vietnamese desserts, Che Khun Back is not sweetened with coconut cream, instead, lychee juice is used as a base for this one. Also, this dessert is most commonly served with a wide variety of different fruits, so not only is it delicious, it’s very healthy and refreshing.
9. Che Thai
Another fruity dessert in a form of soup, Che Thai, is another dish you must try when you visit Vietnam. It’s a cold, coconut cream-based dessert, filled with fresh, sliced jackfruit and pomegranate seeds. As you can probably guess from the name, it’s inspired by a Thai dish, but that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying it when you visit Vietnam. It’s nice and refreshing and once you try it, you’ll probably want to eat it every single day.
As you can tell, most of these desserts are in a semi-liquid form, which is kind of a staple of Vietnamese cuisine. It’s just that the tropical climate calls for something refreshing, so don’t expect a lot of cakes when you go there – it’s mostly going to be something cool, refreshing and eaten from a bowl. Hopefully, you enjoy all of these when you visit and if you try something new and exciting – make sure you let us know!
