Cutlass Bean Pudding - Chè Đậu Ván

February 2009
Chè đấu ván, bao nhiêu năm ở đây mới tìm được đúng loại đậu này.

After searching for decades for cutlass beans in America (some Vietnamese grocers do carry them, but the ones we've tried all failed to turn out a good pudding), a posting on the Internet gave us a hint: buy your beans from Indian supermarkets. After a 50 mile-drive, we found them at an Indian grocer in a barren strip mall. The pudding conjured up delicious memories from our youth - even C., who never eats sweets, asked for a tiny serving. Ask for Vall Dal - no one knows them as "cutlass beans" in barren stip malls - and apparently no one remembers what an Oldsmobile Cutlass is, either.