Chè may be served either hot or cold, and eaten with a bowl and spoon or drunk in a glass.[2][1] Each variety of chè is designated by a descriptive word or phrase that follows the word chè, such as chè đậu đỏ (literally "
red beanchè").
Chè may be made at home, but are also commonly sold in plastic cups at Vietnamese grocery stores.
In northern Vietnam, chè is also the word for the
tea plant.
Tea is also known as nước chè in the North or more commonly trà in both regions.
Varieties
There is a nearly endless variety of named dishes with the prefix chè, and thus it is impossible to produce a complete list. What follows is a list of the most typical traditional varieties of chè.
Beans and pulses
Chè đậu đen - made from
black turtle beans; one of the most popular varieties of chè, particularly for northern Vietnamese
Chè đậu đỏ - made from
azuki beans, usually using whole beans, rarely using ground beans.
Chè đậu trắng - made from
black-eyed peas. Oftentimes, this dessert is just referred to as chè đậu as it is one of the most common bean dessert for southern Vietnamese.
Chè đậu ván - made from Dolichos lablab (hyacinth beans); a specialty in
Huế
Chè bột lọc from small cassava and rice flour dumplings
Chè con ong (
lit.'bee sweet soup'; so named because this dish is viscous and yellow, like honey) - made from
glutinous rice,
ginger root, honey, and
molasses– this is a northern dish, usually cooked to offer to the ancestors at
Tết.
Chè bánh xếp - green bean wrapped in a tapioca skin dumpling eaten in a coconut milk base with smaller pieces of tapioca. Translated to English, the dish is "folded cake dessert".
Chè trôi nước or Bánh chay - balls made from mung bean paste in a shell made of glutinous rice flour; served in a thick clear or brown liquid made of water, sugar, and grated
ginger root.
Fruits and plants
Chè chuối - made from
bananas and
tapioca (Vietnamese: bột báng or bột năng). Traditionally served warm.[4]
Chè ba màu (
lit.'three colours chè') - usually including green
mung beans, white
black-eyed peas, and red
azuki beans, although people can cook with any ingredients making any three colours they like (compare with
halo halo).
Chè thưng - name translates to combo dessert in Vietnamese. One version is made from dried red
jujube,
peanut, and dried Auricularia auricula-judae fungus, while another is made from taro, cassava, green bean, sea weed, and water chestnuts
Savory chè (chè mặn)
Chè lạp xường (or chè lạp xưởng) - made from
Chinese sausage
Chè trứng đỏ - made from eggs and other ingredients
Chè trứng - served with boiled eggs, either hot or cold, in a sweet soup base or sweet tea
Chè bột lọc heo quay - made from
bánh bột lọc filled with roasted pork
Bubur cha cha or Bocha - a Vietnamese interpretation of a popular sweet soup originating from Malaysia and Singapore, found in Hanoi.
Chè Thái - a sweet fruit soup, which is believed to be a version of
Thailand's
tub tim krob, but the Vietnamese version uses a variety of tropical fruits, while the Thai version uses strictly chestnuts.