Vietnamese Dessert

   I got bored and have no idea on what to blog...again. It's like writer's block but it's just the topics I'm stuck about. Luckily, mother to the rescue! With her amazing cooking skills, I decided to write about Vietnamese food once again! But I did a lot of the popular ones, so I decide to blog about Vietnamese desserts. Not hard since I eat them constantly and surprisingly, I'm not getting any cavities with the load of desserts I'm stuffing myself in. Anyways, make to the topic.
 
    Che is a Vietnamese sweet dessert soup/beverage/pudding, usually made from beans (e.g. kidney beans, mung beans, etc.) and sticky rice, served in a glass over ice and eaten with a spoon (pretty obvious). It's gelatinous and perfect for the summer. However, there are varieties where you can eat it when it's hot so it's also perfect for the winter, even though it's not exactly cold over in Vietnam, but in other locations that can be extremely cold. Personally, I think most ches include these ingredients:bananas, coconut milk, pearl tapioca, sweet yam or yucca root vermicelli and/or sugar. The most popular che that you will find every Vietnamese restaurant is Che Ba Mau, which translates to three color dessert. It consists of brown (or red) beans, yellow mung bean, and green jelly, sometimes served with coconut milk and ice, or just ice. Sometimes, it is known as Rainbow Drink/Dessert for its colors. Personally, along with Che Ba Mau, another favorite I have is called Che Dau Xanh, which translates to green bean dessert (buy really, it's mung beans). It's very simple to make, yet very delicious, and you can practically make it yourself at home (if you have the ingredients). Here's a link: Che Dau Xanh Recipe

     Other than that, there are other desserts such as Xôi, which is a sweet or savory Vietnamese dish made from glutinous rice and other ingredients. Although it is often served as a dessert, in many mountainous areas in Vietnam, people eat xôi as a main dish. I personally like my xôi to be savory, topped with Chinese sausage, fragrant friend onions, and dried shrimps..-drools- Xôi that are sweet are usually have a different color like it could be entirely orange or green. You see more sweet xôi rather than savory ones in markets, but there are some in Vietnamese sandwich shops. However, savory ones are usually made at home and is more easier to make than the sweet ones.
    One of the terms that can confuse people are that Vietnamese use the term bánh because it translates loosely as "cake" or "bread". Like xôi, bánh refers to a wide variety of sweet or savoury, distinct flavored cakes, buns, pastries, sandwiches, and food items from Vietnamese cuisine, which may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from rice or wheat flour are generally called bánh, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle and fish cake dishes.

These Vietnamese terms can get confusing, but you understand the words after them, you would know whether or not it is savory or sweet. Even if you do make a mistake, just eat it. There are a lot of kinds of Vietnamese desserts, so it doesn't hurt to try.