Chè

What makes it chè

• Sweet, and eaten by the glass or bowl with a spoon, warm or over crushed ice.
• Beans, tubers, jellies or fruit cooked soft in syrup.
• Coconut cream, lightly salted, poured over.

Where it comes from

Chè is less a dish than a category, sold from street stalls in dozens of kinds: mung bean, black-eyed bean, banana with tapioca and coconut milk, the layered chè ba màu in a tall glass. Huế, with its old court kitchens, is said to have the most kinds of all.

How it varies

Chè chuối

Banana and tapioca pearls in warm coconut milk, with toasted peanuts.

Chè ba màu

'Three colours': beans, mung bean paste and green jelly, with coconut milk and ice.

Chè đậu xanh

Mung beans in syrup.