Vietnamese desserts often contain fruit and combine sweet beans, fruit, and glutinous rice. Chè is a popular dessert with many variations, while xôi is made from glutinous rice and beans. Bánh duc is a sweet cake made from rice flour and pandan or coconut leaf extract. Other popular desserts include bánh da lon, sâm bô luong, bâhn rau câu, and sinh tô. Some Vietnamese desserts are familiar in North America, such as breaded and fried plantains, bâhn flan, and dawa.
There are many types of Vietnamese desserts, many of which contain fruit. Fresh fruit, including bananas, mangoes, and papayas, among others, is itself the most popular form of dessert in Vietnam. Other Vietnamese desserts commonly combine sweet beans, fruit, and glutinous rice in a variety of sweets and cakes.
Chè is a very popular dessert that has a huge number of variations. Sweet dessert with a pudding-like texture soup, the basic chè is made from beans or beans, coconut milk, and pearl tapioca along with sweet potato or yucca root, and sugar. To these, cooks add any combination of fruit. Served hot or cold, chè is also eaten as a snack during the day and is so popular that there are dedicated shops with chè being the only item on the menu.
Xôi is a dessert made from glutinous rice and beans. Other ingredients include coconut, pandan, fruits such as durian and sugar to produce a variety of different flavours. This often colorful dessert can also be eaten as a main meal, and there are savory versions that incorporate meats such as chicken or sausage. Another type of popular Vietnamese dessert is chè xôi nuoc, balls made with mung bean paste, which you cook then coat with glutinous rice flour. These balls are served hot in a thick, sweet, gingery sauce and are often garnished with sesame seeds.
Bánh duc, or Vietnamese cake, contains dull rice flour, which is boiled with other assorted ingredients such as pandan or coconut leaf extract. When cool, this produces large, firm sheets which are cut into gelatinous blocks before serving. This sweeter version tends to be served mostly in the south of the country, while in the north, bánh duc refers to a savory pie garnished with ingredients such as pork or prawns.
Bánh da lon, like many Vietnamese desserts, contains green beans, rice flour, and sugar. These are mixed with tapioca, taro and durian starch with a splash of coconut milk and water. The different mixtures are steamed and then combined in alternating layers. The resulting dessert is sweet, soft and colorful.
Sâm bô luong is a sweet soup that is served cold. The basic dessert contains Job’s tears, seaweed, dried longan and red jujube. These ingredients are then mixed with water, sugar and crushed ice. Common additions to this dessert include ginger, ginseng, wolfberries, and pearl barley.
Other popular types of Vietnamese desserts include bâhn rau câu, a layered and shaped agar jelly cake that is flavored with items such as pandan and coconut milk. Sinh tô, the Vietnamese version of a smoothie, is made with a variety of local fruits, condensed milk and crushed ice. Vietnamese desserts that are also familiar in North America include breaded and fried plantains served hot with ice cream or syrup; bâhn flan, which is essentially a fruit flan; and dawa, a sweet and tart frozen yogurt made from condensed milk.
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