Authentic Che Ba Mau (Vietnamese Three Color Dessert)

Vietnamese cuisine has many desserts but my favorite one to eat all year round is Che Ba Mau. My mom never could make it, so I used to eat them at various Vietnamese restaurants, cafes, and dessert places in LA. My absolute favorite place to get it is this little food place called Che Hien Khanh in Rosemead . I have no idea what it is but theirs is absolutely the best. If you’re ever in the LA area, you gotta go check them out. Given I can’t go there nowadays, I thought I would make it for myself at home.

I really love Che Ba Mau

Che is the word for any kind of sweet Vietnamese drink, pudding, or soup. Some popular Che that I love include Che Ba Mau, Che Thai, and Che Chuoi. Che Ba Mau is far and above my favorite however. It is a dessert consisting of 4 components: a layer of red beans, a layer of mung beans, pandan jelly, and coconut sauce. All of that is then topped with crushed ice. It is often served in a tall glass, so you can see each layer before you dig in. My favorite part was mixing everything together and seeing those layers disappear. Over the years I’ve had many many kinds of Che Ba Mau, so when it came to making my own, I took all my favorite components and stuck them into one drink.

Some deets about key ingredients!

• Adzuki beans – You can use any kind of red beans, but I chose adzuki because they’re more favorite. A great substitute are red kidney beans. Make sure to adjust how you prepare kidney beans if you decide to use them because they are bigger than adzuki beans. That means soak and cook them for longer.
• Mung beans – I would recommend buying peeled mung beans for this recipe because in my experience, they are so much easier to work with.
• Pandan paste – Because it’s hard to access pandan in the US, I like to use pandan paste as flavoring. Be careful with the paste because a little paste goes a long way. Here I only used 1/4 teaspoon and I got this vibrant green color. If you wish to use fresh pandan leaves, combine 6 pandan leaves with 3/4 cup of water. Blend them together and then pass it through a fine mesh sieve. Make sure you wring out all the liquid from the leaves. For a more detailed guide, refer to my coconut pandan jelly recipe. The pandan jelly layer is made the same way.

How I like to make Che Ba Mau

Each layer will be made and stored separately, so this dessert does take some time to make, but it is worth it!

Adzuki Beans

Soak beans over night. The next day, drain the beans. Combine them with water in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 45 minutes – 1 hour until they are soft and tender. Add sugar and mix. Set aside to cool.

Tip: Adjust the amount of sugar to adjust the sweetness to your tastes!

Mung Bean Paste

Combine mung beans and water in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add sugar and mix. Blend using a blender or immersion blender until a thick paste forms. Set aside to cool.

Pandan Jelly

1. Combine water with agar agar powder in a sauce pan. Let the agar agar bloom for 15 minutes. Add pandan flavor and sugar. Stir and turn the heat to high.
   • Tip #1: Blooming the agar agar or letting it sit will prevent the jelly from becoming too grainy.
2. Continually stir until the liquid boils. Lower to a simmer and let it simmer for 1 minute.
   • Tip #2: Make sure the liquid boils. This ensures the agar agar has fully dissolved.
   • Tip #3: Also make sure to constantly stir the liquid. If you don’t, the agar agar will pool at the bottom of the pan.
3. Pour into a dish and let it cool to room temperature. I used a 7.5 x 5.5 inch glass dish.
4. Cover and put in the fridge. Let it set for an hour. Slice into thin strips and store in the fridge until ready to use.

Coconut Sauce

Heat coconut milk until it starts to boil. Add sugar and tapioca starch. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Tip #4: Be careful not to cook the coconut sauce too much as it will intensify the sweetness of the coconut milk.

Making che ba mau

Now it’s (finally) time to put together your dessert! Add a layer of mung bean paste to the bottom of a glass. You can use any size glass you want. Next add a layer of red beans and top that with some pandan jelly. Finish it off with crushed ice. Drizzle coconut sauce over the top and serve.

Key Tip: Use an immersion blender to puree mung bean paste

In testing, I tried using a potato masher to crush my mung beans into a paste, but I couldn’t get a smooth consistency. There were still whole mung beans in my paste which I didn’t love. So I then decided to use an immersion blender to get it to the smooth consistency I was looking for. I found that an immersion blender works better in this case than a regular blender because you can puree the paste in the container you are cooking or storing it in. It also has less clean up.

Did you make this dish?

If you made this dish, I would love to see!

Follow Cooking Therapy on Instagram, snap a photo, and tag and hashtag it with @cooking__therapy and #beccascookingtherapy.

Stay connected and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for all my latest recipes.

Disclaimer: If you purchase anything through a link on this site, I may receive a small commission from the purchase at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products that I would personally use. Thank you so much for the support!