Che troi nuoc
Che troi nuoc takes sticky rice balls and sits them in delicious ginger syrup. The dessert is sweet, gooey, and served hot. Vietnamese desserts are meant for celebrations like the Vietnamese New Year. Che troi nuoc can be enjoyed on New Year’s and is also eaten on a child’s first birthday.
Rau cau
Rau cau is a very popular Vietnamese dessert. It is made from red algae and gets flavored in coconut milk, pandan, and sometimes other ingredients. Rau cau is a dessert eaten cold. It’s sometimes added to drinks or mixed in with che.
A Vietnamese jelly cake is the best explanation for what rau cau is. It makes a great pairing alongside Vietnamese coffee. As a traditional jelly cake, there are a lot of customizations to be done. The most common change though is in the color, including some multi-color varieties.
Banh dau xanh
Banh dau xanh are Vietnamese mung bean paste cakes or ‘moon cakes’. They are made with mung beans, sugar, oil, and fat. The texture is unexpected for most Canadians but once someone’s used to it, banh dau xanh is hard to put down. They aren’t overly sweet as well, a bonus for those who are looking to avoid excessive amounts of sugar.
Banh flan
Banh flan is the most French-influenced Vietnamese desserts. If you’ve eaten in a Vietnamese restaurant before and have looked at the desserts, you’ve probably seen these. It’s a caramel custard or flan.
Banh flan is made from eggs, milk, and sugar. A simple dessert, they’re very tasty. They are predominantly French though. Banh flan in Vietnamese cooking is still very French. It is, at times, customized with black coffee poured on top or by browning caramel past the usual caramelization point to the point where it takes on a darker, more bitter look.
Banh bo
Banh bo is a sweet and airy sponge cake. Its appearance is honeycomb-like on the inside. It is flavored with coconut milk and is made from rice flour, water, sugar, and yeast.
There are many varieties of banh bo. In the last decade, replacing the coconut milk with condensed milk or milk powder has grown in popularity. There’s also another variety using wheat powder, hen eggs, baking soda, and sweetened coconut.
Banh bo is an adaptation of a Chinese recipe known as bai tang go. The biggest difference between them is the Chinese version doesn’t contain any coconut milk.
Sinh to
Sinh to is a Vietnamese fruit smoothie. It is made from a few teaspoons of condensed milk and freshly picked local fruits. It’s tied together with crushed ice and then blended. The result is a natural sugar-infused fruit drink.
Sinh to comes in many varieties. These include custard apple, sugar apple, avocado, jackfruit, soursop, durian, strawberry, passionfruit, dragonfruit, lychee, mango, and banana. It can be enjoyed on a summer afternoon, after a workout year-round, or as a nice pick-me-up after a dinner.
Che bap
Che bap is a Vietnamese pudding made from sweet corn, rice, and rich coconut milk. The taste is like sweet corn and coconut milk. The texture, however, is chewy like a rice cake. This combination’s a unique one. Che bap gets topped with sesame seeds. The best ones are available in Vietnam during the harvest season from March to September.
Chuoi chien
Chuoi chien is a Canadian favourite – a beautiful, tasty banana deep-fried in batter served in vanilla ice cream. Some have compared it to a deep-fried banana split. Though similar, it is different.
You may compare a chuoi chien to a corn dog in appearance. It also doesn’t need to be devoured with ice cream, either. Chuoi chien can be enjoyed completely on its own, wrapped in all the flour and sugar you want. Fried bananas are a Vietnamese dessert with comparable recipes in Thai, Indonesian, and Malaysian cooking.
Sua chua
Sua chua is a local Vietnamese yogurt. It was originally French and brought to Vietnam by colonists. Over time, the Vietnamese influence has only increased.
Sua chua is made with condensed milk. The flavor is sweet and tart. Sua chua is eaten typically cold and sometimes in a frozen form. In Vietnam, it is sold in small, clear bags. It’s a little like Canadian milk, in the way it is sold by the bag.
Banh da lon
Banh da lon is a Vietnamese layer cake. It is sweet, soft, and steamed. The layer cake is made with rice flour, mung bean, coconut milk, water, and sugar. Alternating layers of starch and flavored filling are used. The regular layers are either taro or durian.
You may have seen in banh da lon or varieties in grocery stores or restaurants. It is gelatinously textured. These days, it’s common to use artificial food coloring instead of vegetable-based coloring. That said, the traditional recipes rely entirely on natural ingredients.
Banh tieu
Banh tieu is a Vietnamese doughnut. They look like little Timbits. They’re an addictive dessert, always crispy and fresh.
Typically, banh tieu are covered in sesame seeds. This helps to give the bites some crunch. In Vietnam, banh tieu is enjoyed on rainy days with a cup of tea in hand. For Canadians, this Vietnamese dessert can be considered like a more natural, Asian-influenced hollow doughnut bite. So tasty, you won’t regret a single bite.
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