Vietnamese recipe

Chè ba màu — three-colour iced dessert

Name: Chè ba màu — three-colour iced dessert
Prep time: 4 h 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 5 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Vietnamese cuisine
Ingredients: 240 g cooked unsweetened red adzuki beans, drained; 240 g cooked black-eyed peas, drained; 500 ml water for jelly; 4 g pure agar-agar powder, not a sweetened jelly mix; 2 ml green-coloured food-grade pandan extract; 120 g sugar: 40 g jelly, 25 g each bean layer, 30 g coconut sauce; 200 ml water for bean syrups, divided equally; 250 ml coconut milk; 1 g salt; 4 g tapioca starch; 20 ml cold water for starch slurry; 600 g crushed ice

A whole-bean variation of three-colour chè: sweet red beans, pale black-eyed peas and green pandan jelly with coconut sauce and crushed ice.

Vietnam

Prep: 4 hr 30 min
Cook: 30 min
Total: 5 hr
Servings: 4

Red and pale whole beans layered under green pandan jelly and coconut ice — **Real finished-dish photograph**Photograph by Jess Lander from Los Angeles, CA, USASource page · Original file · CC BY 2.0Cropped, resized, and compressed by Recipe Nest Vault.

Ingredients

240 g
cooked unsweetened red adzuki beans, drained
240 g
cooked black-eyed peas, drained
500 ml
water for jelly
4 g
pure agar-agar powder, not a sweetened jelly mix
2 ml
green-coloured food-grade pandan extract
120 g
sugar: 40 g jelly, 25 g each bean layer, 30 g coconut sauce
200 ml
water for bean syrups, divided equally
250 ml
coconut milk
1 g
salt
4 g
tapioca starch
20 ml
cold water for starch slurry
600 g
crushed ice

Method

01
Hydrate the agar
Whisk agar powder into 500 ml cold water in a saucepan and rest 10 minutes. Prepare a shallow heatproof dish large enough for a jelly layer about 2 cm deep.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
02
Dissolve and flavour the jelly
Bring the agar mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring. Boil 2 minutes until dissolved, add 40 g sugar, stir 1 minute, then remove from heat and mix in pandan extract.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
03
Set and chill the jelly
Pour into the dish and skim bubbles. Cool for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for 4 hours until firm and thoroughly cold; prepare the remaining layers during the chill.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
04
Sweeten the red beans
Simmer red beans with 100 ml water and 25 g sugar over low heat for 8 minutes. Stir gently to keep beans intact and leave a little syrup; transfer to a shallow bowl.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
05
Sweeten the pale beans
In a clean pan, simmer black-eyed peas with the other 100 ml water and 25 g sugar for 8 minutes. Stop before skins split and transfer to a separate shallow bowl.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
06
Thicken coconut sauce
Mix tapioca starch with 20 ml cold water. Heat coconut milk, salt and the remaining 30 g sugar until steaming; stir in slurry and simmer 1 minute until lightly thickened.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
07
Chill every component
Cool beans and coconut sauce in shallow containers for 20 minutes, then refrigerate at 0–4°C until fully cold. Keep the layers separate; do not leave them out for over 2 hours.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
08
Cut the green jelly
Release the cold jelly and cut into strips about 3 mm wide and 4 cm long. Separate strands gently; keep them cold while crushing the ice.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph
09
Layer and serve immediately
Divide red beans, pale beans and green jelly among four tall glasses of at least 650 ml each. Add crushed ice and coconut sauce, keeping the colours visible. Serve with long spoons and stir together before eating.
Cooking-step illustration, not a photograph

Practical notes

Tips

Use already-cooked beans for predictable texture and a shorter method.
Chill the coconut sauce before assembly so it does not melt the ice.

Common mistakes

Agar must boil to dissolve; undissolved powder creates weak or gritty jelly.
Do not stir the dessert before presenting if you want visible layers.

Substitutions

The common yellow-layer version replaces 240 g black-eyed peas with 240 g plain cooked mung-bean purée, sweetened with the same 25 g sugar.
Use cooked red kidney beans instead of adzuki, never raw or merely soaked kidney beans.

Storage

Store the three layers and coconut sauce separately at 0–4°C for up to 3 days. Add ice only when serving; discard melted assembled portions after 2 hours out.

Cultural context

Chè ba màu means three-colour dessert. Bean choices vary; this whole-bean version uses a pale bean layer instead of the familiar yellow mung-bean mash.

Sources and photo credit

This standardized method was independently rewritten after cross-checking the references below. Recipe Nest Vault does not claim that the credited photographer cooked from this exact version.

Recipe references

Chendol2 — Photograph by Jess Lander from Los Angeles, CA, USA; CC BY 2.0.

Step illustrations: Original illustrations created by Recipe Nest Vault with OpenAI image_gen.

Back to Vietnamese recipes

Chè ba màu — three-colour iced dessert

Ingredients

Method

Hydrate the agar

Dissolve and flavour the jelly

Set and chill the jelly

Sweeten the red beans

Sweeten the pale beans

Thicken coconut sauce

Chill every component

Cut the green jelly

Layer and serve immediately

Sources and photo credit

Recipe references

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