Chè Ba Màu (Vietnamese Three Color Dessert)

Two glasses of layered Vietnamese dessert insides glasses on a serving tray

Chè Ba Màu (Vietnamese Three Color Dessert)

This vibrant and refreshing che ba mau 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.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Vietnamese

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 6 40

Servings cups

Calories 320kcal

Author Takes Two Eggs

Ingredients

Mung Beans

¾ cup (160 g) Peeled Split Mung Beans
1 cup (250 ml) water, to cook
⅓ cup (95 g) granulated sugar
⅓ cup (95 g) water for simple syrup
1 teaspoon (5g) salt

Red Kidney and Pinto Beans

¾ cup (155 g) Red Kidney beans
¾ cup (155 g) Pinto Beans
¾ cup (320 g) granulated sugar
1 ½ cup (375 g) water

Coconut Milk

1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk
1 ¼ cup (310 g) water
2 pandan leaves washed and tied together
2 ½ tablespoon (37 g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon (4 g) salt
1 tablespoon (12 g) cornstarch
2 tablespoon (30 g) water for cornstarch slurry

Pandan Jelly

1 ½ cup (183 g) tapioca starch
½ teaspoon pandan extract
½ cup hot water (208 F)

To Serve

Crushed ice

Instructions

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 1/2 cups of water. Cook in the rice cooker until softened and cooked. Alternatively, you can cook the mung beans on a stovetop. See Notes below.
Make the simple syrup. In a small saucepan, 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.

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 clear about 2x. Strain the beans and place them in two separate bowls.
Make simple syrup for red kidney and pinto beans. In a medium saucepan, add the 1 1/2 cup sugar and 3 cups 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.

Coconut Milk

Cook the coconut milk. In a medium saucepan, 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 it 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 a lid to prevent the moisture from leaving. The second it begins to boil, turn off the heat and slowly pour 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.
Roll and cut the jelly. Dust your work surface with tapioca starch. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pandan jelly to 1/8 of an inch thick. If the dough sticks, add more tapioca starch. Then using a knife or dough cutter, slice the dough into 1/8 inch slices about 3 inches long. While you are slicing cover the extra dough with plastic wrap to prevent the dough from drying out.
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 1/2 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.

Assembly

Shaved Ice (Optional). In a blender, place about 4 cups of ice and blend until the ice is crushed into small bits.
In a cup, scoop 1 tablespoon of the mung beans, 1 tbsp kidney beans (with the simple syrup), 1 tbsp red beans (with the simple syrup), and tapioca strings. Add ice and pour in the coconut milk.

Notes

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 constantly. 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 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 of 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 1/2 tbsp of sugar at a time and taste. I also suggest adding a pinch of salt for every 1/2 tbsp of sugar to balance the sweetness.
For the pandan jelly, work quickly! Once the water in the saucepan 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 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 in for about 30 seconds to 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.

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