Shaved Ice: Vietnamese Che Ba Mau
You may know your way around pho and the ins and outs of bahn mi,
yet still be surprised to learn that your favorite Vietnamese hangouts
also offer icy drinks that tame the summer heat.
When I get the urge for Che Ba Mau, the popular three bean drink, I head to Tony's Bakery & Deli in Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood. I'll pull a plastic cup filled with red beans, white beans, mung beans, coconut jelly, and homemade green jelly from the fridge.
Then I'll watch as the crushed ice, half and half, and coconut milk are added. Che means "sweet" in Vietnamese, and you can order a a slew of sweet drinks here, but the most popular I'd wager is this multi-hued, three-bean drink, Che Ba Mau. It's a classic.
If you've been following me in my search for shaved ice desserts, you'll know that I've sampled bowls of icy sweet confections from six other countries already. If not, delicious links to photos and descriptions of them all are below.
--Tracy Schneider
Shawn Crisp on August 09, 2009 at 07:09 PM
That's absolutely disgusting. What a stupid thing to do -- beans in an iced drink?
HopeSew on August 10, 2009 at 11:17 AM
That's clever. Upon seeing a food item from another part of the world, immediately call it "stupid."
The beans have been cooked in sugar water, not savory/salty stock or chili seasonings. It's a sweet dessert type of thing, and if it's "disgusting," I suppose it's disgusting in the same way as honey roasted or chocolate covered peanuts or topping an ice cream sundae with nuts.
Nguyen on September 04, 2009 at 08:49 AM
Shawn, never pass judgement until you've tried it.
Many vietnamese (and other south east asia) deserts are made with beans!
to name a few:
red beans + syrup + ice
black eyed beans + sticky rice + coconut
mung beans + coconut
Far from being "absolutely disgusting", they are in fact absolutely delicious!
jeux ds on September 23, 2009 at 04:45 AM
Love your site and love that you posted a recipe for this! I have been looking for Vietnamese sites to broaden my knowledge in that area! Thanks for posting on my blog and I'll be adding you to my ever growing blogroll!
bookmarklove on April 05, 2010 at 05:48 PM
Che Ba Mau! Yummy! Recently I just experienced Bingsoo(u) and can't get enough of it. My husband just keeps feeding it to me because he knows I have a weakness for sweets. Good thing warm weather is coming around because I can sure use those shaved ice goodies. Great post BTW.
Tracy Schneider on April 06, 2010 at 12:25 AM
Bookmarklove, I'm so glad you've discovered the icy treats of Asia and am thrilled you like this post.
Don't miss the finale, Hawaiian Shave Ice, plus links to 8 other shaved ice treats:
http://www.aldenteblog.com/2009/09/hawaiian-shave-ice.html
Maria on September 20, 2010 at 10:01 AM
Omg Che Ba Mau! Sooo Yummy! My absolute favorite dessert in the world. Fortunately for me, A Vietnamese restaurant in my area makes it, so i always order it from there. (Thank god for one, cause East Coast doesn't have much shops like these) Though It Can get expensive so thanks for the recipe!
mr.orijinalAZ on April 24, 2011 at 08:05 AM
This is vary good... one of my favorite cool sweet summertime treats.. Arizona has a large Asian-Pacific community here and Vietnamese is one of the largest.. you can pick up one of these at almost any of our Asian markets.. Halao-halo iis alot simular minus the ice,,,
Anonymous on January 03, 2012 at 11:07 AM
That's a mean thing to say - to insult another country's dessert. What's disgusting is that even YOU have to pass disgusting food waste out of your butt regardless of what you eat.