What is chè đậu trắng?
Chè đậu trắng (sweet rice dessert) is a Vietnamese dessert consisting of sweet rice and black eyed peas. Sweet rice is so popular that it’s found in both savory and sweet dishes. Remember my previous dessert posts about chè? This is another version of chè, called chè đậu trắng, which means sweet rice dessert. It contains sweet rice mixed with black eyed peas instead of just black beans or mung beans alone. Of course, you guessed it, it is topped with a generous amount of coconut milk. Out of the three desserts, chè đậu trắng (sweet rice dessert) is my second favorite. It is similar to a rice pudding. Even though it’s categorized as a dessert, I remember growing up eating it as a snack as well.
Sweet rice vs. Jasmine rice. What’s the difference?
Sweet rice is a glutinous, sticky rice. You can tell the difference between sweet rice and Jasmine rice by how it looks. To me the grain in Jasmine rice is thinner, longer and translucent. Whereas the grain in sweet rice is round, short and opaque.
All rice contains two types of starch, amylose and amylopectin in different amounts. The amounts of each starch in the rice gives the rice its texture when cooked. Sweet rice produces a sticky, gummy, chewy and slightly sweet taste when cooked. On the other hand, Jasmine rice is fluffy (check out my perfect Jasmine rice post), less sticky, less gummy and not sweet when cooked. So what gives the sweet rice its sticky texture? It’s the high amount of amylopectin and low amount of amylose in the sticky rice. On the contrary, when a rice contains high amounts of amylose, as in Jasmine rice, it will be fluffier and less sticky when cooked.
How to make chè đậu trắng (sweet rice dessert)?
All you need to make this sweet and comforting dessert are sweet rice, water, sugar, black eyed peas and coconut milk. You can use the stove top to make the sweet rice, but in this post, I’ve decided to use the rice cooker to save time and take the guess work out of when the rice is done. If you want to use the stove top to make sweet rice, keep it on low heat, and watch it closely so that the bottom does not burn.
The secret to getting sticky, gummy and delicious tasting sweet rice is to leave the lid closed for about 10 minutes, even after its done cooking. This will help the remaining few grains of rice that are still a bit crunchy to completely cook through. I’ve made the mistake of opening the lid right after the rice cooker is done. As a result, tasted a few slightly crunchy grains of sweet rice….yuck.
I also used canned black eyed peas for convenience. But you can always use the dry black eyed peas…just remember to soak it first to reduce the cooking time of the beans.
After the sweet rice cooks, all that’s left is to mix in the sugar, black eyed peas, coconut milk and it’s ready to enjoy…a nice warm and comforting bowl of chè đậu trắng.
How to store chè đậu trắng (sweet rice dessert)?
Unlike chè đậu đen (sweet black bean dessert) and chè đậu xanh (mung bean dessert), chè đậu trắng (sweet rice dessert) is best served warm. The left over can be stored in the fridge in an air tight container separately from the coconut milk. Then when you’re in the mood for dessert, just reheat the sweet rice and black eyed peas and coconut milk in the microwave and enjoy.
Chè Đậu Trắng (Sweet Rice and Black Eyed Peas).
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup sweet rice
- 1.5 cup water
- ¼ cup sugar plus 2 tbsp for coconut milk (optional).
- Pinch of salt one for the sweet rice and one for the coconut topping (optional).
- 1 can black eyed peas
- 1 can full fat coconut milk
Instructions
- Place 1 cup of uncooked sweet rice in a pot.
- Add water to the sweet rice to rinse the rice.
- Discard the water from the rice. Repeat rinsing the rice 2 more times.
- Add 1.5 cups of water to the rice and place it in the rice cooker, and turn on the rice cooker.
- While waiting for the rice to cook…
- Open a can of black eyed peas, and rinse it with water using the colander and set it aside.
- Pour a can of full fat coconut milk in a pot and heat it up until warm to the touch. Set it aside. You can add 2 tbsp sugar to the coconut milk, and a pinch of salt in this step if you'd like a sweeter taste.
- When the rice is done cooking, don't immediately open the lid…instead let it sit on warm with the lid closed for 10 more minutes. This will help all the rice grains to get fully cooked.
- After 10 minutes, then open the lid to give the rice a stir, and add in a pinch of salt.
- Add ¼ cup of sugar. Adjust according to your taste.
- Then add the can of rinsed black eyed peas. Mix well.
- Serve with coconut milk.
Do you have a favorite ethnic dessert? If so, leave me a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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