Chè Đậu Trắng otherwise known as Black-Eyed Pea Rice Pudding, is a classic Vietnamese dessert that I grew up eating. It’s usually available at a local Vietnamese Cake/Dessert shop or restaurant. But growing up in Minnesota, we didn’t have a lot of Vietnamese food or culture, so the only time we would we get to indulge in it is when my mom would make it.

The beauty about this dessert, besides the fact that it’s SUPER easy, is that it’s also vegan! We use a lot of coconut milk in Vietnamese cooking especially with our desserts. I love the creamy and sweet taste it gives to the dessert as well as the fragrance of the tropics!

I made this recipe before using an instantpot but I wanted to recreate it the OG way so that anyone can make it. Since we were gonna do it the old fashioned way on the stovetop, I opted to use fresh pandan extract as well! It add this beautiful coconut and vanilla aroma to the dessert! Don’t worry too much about the color as the green is very little when using fresh pandan.

I don’t recommend using pandan extract for this because the color is very intense and so is the flavor LOL. You can find pandan leaves at most asian markets in the frozen section. If you’re lucky enough to find it fresh, I would freeze the leftovers after for later!

This recipe makes more pandan extract than needed because you need to add enough liquid for the leaves to blend so I recommend storing it in a container in the fridge for other recipes!

Chè Đậu Trắng with Fresh Pandan (a.k.a. Black-Eyed Pea Rice Pudding)

Recipe by Jen H. DaoCourse: Recipes

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

45

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 c dried black eyed peas (soak in water overnight/4 hrs)

• 1 c glutinous rice (rinse a few times with water)

• 3/4 c sugar

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 4 c water (you can adjust and add more to your desired consistency)

• Pandan extract

• 5-6 pandan leaves

• 4 tbsp water

• Coconut Sauce

• 1 can/14 oz coconut milk

• 1/2 c water

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 3 tbsp sugar

• 3/4 tbsp tapioca starch

Directions

• Soak peas overnight or for 4 hrs in water. Rinse peas, add to a pot with 3 c of water and boil on med/low for 25-28 mins or until soft.
• Cut pandan leaves and blend with 4 tbsp water. Pour mixture through a strainer to get your pandan extract. Discard the pulp.
• In a pot add the glutinous rice (rinse a few times), sugar, water, salt and 2 tbsp pandan extract. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 mins.
• Add the beans to the rice mixture and cook for 10-15 mins or until rice is the consistency you like. Stir every few mins.
• To make the coconut sauce, whisk everything under “coconut sauce” and bring to a boil in a pot. About 5 mins. Remove from heat and let cool.