A small portion of sweet lychee bits with Jackfruit slices, chewy jelly and chilled coconut milk sounds refreshing, does it not? Che Thai recipe is more than simply a sweet soup or fruit cocktail. It’s an ice cream dessert that packs many flavors in only one bite.
It’s good to know that this dessert is incredibly easy to prepare because the canned tropical fruits allows it to be readily available, and you can make it according to the various fruit you like.
The dessert isn’t made with shaving ice, but the mix of ingredients recalls Che ba mau
Che Thai is a Vietnamese version of the similar Thai dessert called “Tub Tim Krop,” which is made up of coconut milk and water chestnuts. The chestnuts coated in water are sprayed with the red color of food dye, encased in tapioca starch, then boiling, giving the chestnuts a bright crimson hue that is similar to its name”red rubies. “red rubies.”
The rubies of red
Che Thai takes on this base of “red rubies” and coconut milk, and then adds more delicious jellies and fruits. I prefer to add the canned longevity of longans and lychees Ai-yu jelly, jackfruit as well as toddy palms. The good thing about this recipe is that you can have the option of adding different kinds of fruits or other items, such as grass jelly, coconut and tapioca ball.
For making”the “red rubies,” you only require about half the containers of canned water chestnuts. Cut the chestnuts into 1/4-inch pieces, mix in red food coloring and then coat them the pieces with starch from tapioca. After that, cook the water chestnuts in small batches and then remove them when they begin to rise.
Then, immediately place them in an iced water bath immediately. The longer you leave them in the water the chewier they’ll become which is why I keep them for at minimum 10 minutes.
The fruit
If you are using canned fruit, ensure that you keep the syrup in some of those cans since you’ll use it as a sweetener in the future. (Using just one bottle of syrup can help enhance the sweetness, without mucking up the flavor.) Cut all the fruits into bite-sized pieces and then place them in the punch bowl of a large size along alongside the “red rubies.”
AMAZING DESSERT: VIETNAMESE YOGURT STICKY BLACK PUDDING (SỮA CHUA NẾP CẨM)
The coconut
For the final drink I make coconut milk, and then add the juice and the meat of one coconut for more flavor to your punch bowl. (If the coconut you’re using isn’t available, coconut milk available, you can make the heavy whipping cream or half-and-half.) Because I prefer extra sweetener in my Che Thai I also include some of the syrup left over made from canned fruits.
It is possible to chill the Che Thai with ice however I prefer to prepare this in advance and then place it in the fridge for a couple of hours to ensure that the ice doesn’t saturate and water down the taste. I love serving this at parties because it can be shared with many people!
What is Vietnam Che?
Che in Vietnamese refers to sweet treats that are liquid in nature like pudding, drinks or other varieties of soup.’
See more Vietnamese Chè recipes:
Chè Thái Recipe – Vietnamese Fruit Cocktail Dessert
Ingredients
RED RUBIES
- 20 oz can whole water chestnut you only need half
- red food coloring
- 1 c tapioca starch
- ice
- water
CHÈ THÁI
- 20 oz can jackfruit
- 20 oz can longan
- 20 oz can lychee
- 20 oz can toddy palm seeds
- 19 oz can ai-yu jelly
- 13.5 oz can coconut milk
- 1 coconut you will need the juice & meat
Instructions
"RED RUBIES"
- Open the water chestnut pot and then drain. It is only necessary to use approximately half of these water chestnuts.
- The water chestnuts should be cut into smaller pieces that are about 1/4 inch wide and put them in the bowl of a large size (the tapeioca starch makes them bigger).
- Include a couple of drops colored food dye to smaller pieces and mix them thoroughly. Make sure there's no color or water in your bowl as this can make the starch from tapioca extra soft.
- Mix one cup tapioca starch into the bowl. Cover all the water chestnuts in a uniform manner. To eliminate any starch, put the water chestnuts into the colander and then filter. It is important to stop any the extra starch from getting into the boiling water as it can cause the water to become gummy as well.
- Bring a pot to boil with approximately 2 inches of water on moderate-high temperature. In small portions add the covered water chestnuts and stir them to keep the chestnuts from sticking. When the chestnuts are floating to the top, take their containers from boiling and place them in an ice bath. Stir them again to avoid sticking.
- In the tub for at least 10 minutes.
ASSEMBLY
- Uncork all canned fruit and save the syrup in an individual container. I love lychee the most which is why I save the syrup. We have found that if we mix the syrups from multiple cans, the flavor can be quite mixed.
- Slice jackfruit and cut lychee into big slices, then cut the toddy palms into thin pieces. Maintain the longan's original form since they are relatively small. Put all the fruit in one large container.
- Open the coconut, and then set aside juice. Then, cut pieces of meaty coconut.
- In a different container, mix two coconut liquids and the juice of coconut. Gradually add the syrup from the juice in order to make the milk sweeter. it is recommended to start with adding 1/2 cup at each time. Make adjustments to suit your tastes. Add the coconut milk sweetened as well as the juice and meat in the large container along with the fruits and stir.
- I like fridging the Che Thai for a few hours prior to serving it so that it's nice and chilled however, you could also add crushed ice if need to serve the dish immediately.
