Chè trôi nước

Vietnamese dessert

Chè trôi nước/bánh chay
A bowl of chè trôi nước
Type	Dessert
Place of origin	Vietnam
Region or state	Southeast Asia
Serving temperature	Warm
Main ingredients	Mung bean paste, glutinous rice flour, water, sugar, ginger root
Variations	Bánh trôi, bánh chay

Chè trôi nước (or sometimes is called Chè xôi nước in Southern Vietnam or Bánh chay in Northern Vietnam, both meaning "floating dessert wading in water") is a Vietnamese dessert made of glutinous rice filled with mung bean paste bathed in a sweet clear or brown syrup made of water, sugar, and grated ginger root. It is generally warmed before eating and garnished with sesame seeds and coconut milk. It is often served during Lunar New Year or more recently, served in the Cold-Eating Festival (March 3 in the Vietnamese calendar).

Two northern Vietnamese desserts, bánh trôi (also called bánh trôi nước) and bánh chay, are similar to chè trôi nước (description of it stated above). Chè trôi nước is also similar to a Chinese dish called tangyuan.

In southern Vietnam, three bowls of Chè xôi nước is customarily prepared for Tết Ông Táo, or Ông Táo's Return to Heaven, which takes place on December 23.^[1]

References

^ McAllister, Patrick, and Thi Cam Tu Luckman. “The Kitchen God Returns to Heaven [Ông Táo Về Trời]: Popular Culture, Social Knowledge and Folk Beliefs in Vietnam.” Journal of Vietnamese Studies 10, no. 1 (2015): 110–50. https://doi.org/10.1525/vs.2015.10.1.110.