This vibrant and refreshing Chè Ba Màu or Vietnamese three-color dessert is one of my family's favorite desserts. This indulgent dessert contains three different sweetened beans, bouncy pandan jelly which bathes in creamy coconut milk.

Two glasses of vietnamese three colored dessert being served on a tray with the ingredients around them

When it comes to my large Vietnamese family dinners, everything is a competition. Only the best homemade dishes will receive the highly sought-after subtle nod of approval from my very honest yet critical aunts and uncles. My mom grew up in a family with 11 brothers and sisters and my dad had 6. The competition is steep. So when I tell you that my mom's Chè Ba Màu recipe is the family favorite on BOTH sides of my family, trust me it's the real deal. This Chè Ba Màu is perfect for those hot summer months and tiptoes perfectly on the line between savory and sweet.

Pair this Chè Ba Màu recipe with some Vietnamese spring rolls or some Bun Thit Nuong or Vietnamese chicken wings and you have got yourself a well-balanced meal.

Someone mixing together the ingredients of Vietnamese che ba mau inside a glass cup.

What is Chè Ba Màu?

The term "chè" typically is any traditional Vietnamese sweet beverage, dessert soup, or pudding. Chè ba màu in Vietnamese translates to “three-color dessert." It is a very popular dessert in Vietnam and can be found in almost any Vietnamese restaurant in the world.

Chè ba màu consists of multiple vibrant layers of sweet mung beans, soft pinto and red kidney beans, and chewy pandan jelly. The cups are filled to the brim with crushed ice and immersed in pandan-flavored coconut milk, which swirls together with the sweetened beans to create an unexpectedly delicious dessert-drink hybrid.

Looking up close at the layers of a Vietnamese desert in a glass

Ingredients For This Recipe

Peeled Split Mung Beans: The mung beans create the yellow layer in this dessert. They are cooked, sweetened and mashed for a creamy texture. You can find peeled split mung beans online or at your local Asian grocery store.
Red Kidney and Pinto Beans: to eliminate soaking the beans overnight, opt to use canned beans. This will save a tremendous amount of time and the beans will always come out perfectly without the shell peeling off too much.
Coconut Milk: coconut milk is the foundation of this recipe so be sure to work with a brand that you trust! I like using Chakoh or Chef's Choice coconut milk.
Pandan leaves and Pandan Extract: Pandan is a tropical plant in Southeast Asia that is used for flavoring both sweet and savory food. Pandan has a naturally sweet taste and soft aroma that is grassy with hints of rose, almond, vanilla and coconut. I found my pandan leaves at my local Vietnamese grocery market in the frozen aisle. If pandan leaves are not available to you you can substitute the leaves with pandan extract which you can find online or at your local Asian grocery store.
Granulated Sugar: what every good dessert NEEDS. The sugar acts as the main sweetener for every aspect of this recipe.
Salt: the touch of salt balances out the sweetness from the sugar and the coconut milk and enhances all the flavors together.
Cornstarch: the cornstarch is used to thicken the coconut milk to ensure it evenly coats the beans and pandan jelly.

Looking down on the various ingredients including inside Vietnamese che ba mau

How To Make This Recipe

For this recipe, you will need to prepare each layer 1) Mung Bean, 2) Red and pinto bean, 3) Coconut milk and 4) Pandan jelly) separately before you assemble the final cup. The recipe may seem long and complicated but that is only because I broke down each step with a lot of detail so you will not miss anything!

Prepare the Mung Beans

Prepare mung beans. Wash and drain the mung beans until the water runs clear. Place in the bowl of a rice cooker and add in 2 ½ cups of water. Cook in the rice cooker until softened and cooked. Alternatively, you can cook the mung beans on a stove top. See Notes below.
Make the simple syrup. In a small sauce pan, mix together the water and sugar on medium heat until the water dissolves.
Blend the mung beans in simple syrup. In a food processor or blender, add the cooked mung beans, simple syrup, and salt. Blend until mashed. Place in a bowl, set aside.

Looking down into a food processor with pureed toasted mung beans

Prepare the red kidney and pinto beans.

Prepare the red kidney beans and pinto beans. Strain the can juice from the beans and then place in 2 separate medium bowls and rinse with cold water then strain. Repeat until the water runs clears about 2x. Strain the beans and place in two separate bowls.
Make simple syrup for red kidney and pinto beans. In a medium sauce pan, add the 1 ½ cup sugar and 3 cup water and heat on medium high and mix until the sugar dissolves. Once the syrup hits a boil, immediately pour the simple syrup evenly into both bowls. Make sure the simple syrup covers the beans completely. Soak the beans in simple syrup for 6 hours to sweeten the beans.

Two types of beans each soaking in sweetened water

Coconut Milk

Cook the coconut milk. In a medium sauce pan, pour in both cans of coconut milk, water, pandan leaves folded in half and tied together, sugar and salt and heat on medium high heat. Mix together to dissolve the sugar and salt. Heat until the coconut milk reaches a boil.
Add cornstarch slurry. In a small mixing bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoon water until the cornstarch has dissolved into a slurry. Once the coconut milk reaches a boil, pour the cornstarch slurry in and mix. Turn the heat down low and let the mixture steep the pandan leaves for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the pandan is fragrant. Then turn off the heat and set aside to cool.

Pandan Jelly

Make the pandan jelly. In a mixing bowl, sift the tapioca starch and make sure no large lumps remain. Next, in a small saucepan heat the water and pandan extract to a boil around (208 F). Cover with lid to prevent the moisture from leaving. The second it begins to boil, turn off the heat and slowly pour in the tapioca starch into the pot. Using a firm spatula, immediately stir the pot until everything is evenly mixed and a sticky green dough forms about 5-7 seconds. Take out the dough and knead the dough on a tapioca flour dusted surface. It may be crumbly at first but as you knead the dough it will form together. Speed is your friend here.

Mixing together the gelatin mix ingredients on the stove

Rolling our the gelatin dough on a countertop

Roll and cut the jelly. Dust your work surface with tapioca starch. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pandan jelly to an ⅛ of an inch thick. If the dough sticks, add more tapioca starch. Then using a knife or dough cutter, slice the dough into ⅛ inch slices about 3 inches long. While you are slicing cover the extra dough with plastic wrap to prevent the dough from drying out.

Slicing the gelatin mix into strips with a dough cutter

Coat the strips with tapioca starch. Place the strips into a large mixing bowl with extra tapioca starch and toss to coat to prevent the strings from sticking

Cook the pandan jelly. In a medium-large pot, heat to a boil. Working in groups, pour in ½ the sliced tapioca dough and stir until the strings float to the surface and boil for about 5-6 minutes or until soft and slightly chewy. Then lift the tapioca strings out with a mesh spoon and drop them into an ice bath to cool and tighten up. They will turn translucent in the water bath.

Straining pandan gelatin strips from a pot of water.

Tips For This Recipe

Cook the mung beans in a rice cooker or in a pot on the stovetop. The quickest and easiest way to soften the mung beans is by using the rice cooker. If you opt to use a pot on a saucepan, bring the water and mung beans to a boil stirring constantl. Then turn down the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the mung beans are softened.
Soak the red kidney beans and pinto beans for at least 6 hours. This is the one step that will require some patience but believe me it will be worth it. The beans will need time to soak in the simple syrup to sweeten.
Steep the pandan leaves in the coconut milk long enough until fragrant. You will be able to taste the pandan leaves in the coconut milk the longer it steeps. If you do not have fresh/frozen pandan leaves, simply add a couple drops of pandan extract. If you use the extract, it will subtly change the color of the coconut milk.
Adjust the coconut milk base with more sugar or salt based on your preference. Everyone has a different sweetness preference. I like to err on the side of less sweet so I used a small amount of sugar in the coconut milk. If you want to add more sugar, add a ½ tablespoon of sugar at a time and taste. I also suggest adding a pinch of salt for every ½ tablespoon of sugar to balance the sweetness.
For the pandan jelly, work quickly! Once the water in the sauce pan hits a boil immediately start pouring the tapioca powder in and mix quickly to have the dough absorb the water. When kneading the dough, the dough will be hot! if the dough is too dry moisten your hands with water to rehydrate the dough.

Storage Instructions

You can store the individual layers in separate containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Strain the beans and the pandan jelly before storing them in their respective containers.

Please note: The pandan jelly may harden in the refrigerator the longer it is in there. To make the jelly soft again, simply wet the jelly and cover it with a damp paper towel and microwave until they are softened. Alternatively, you can boil a small pot of water and drop the jelly's in for about 30 seconds-1 minute to soften and transfer to an ice-cold water bath. They won't have the exact same texture as when they are fresh.

Chè Ba Màu (Vietnamese Three Color Dessert)

What is Chè Ba Màu?

Ingredients For This Recipe