Pastry chef Lauren Tran grew up with many Lunar New Year traditions, but there’s one that she can recall in especially vivid detail. In the days leading up to Tết, a.k.a. Vietnamese New Year, she’d often find her mom in their Seattle kitchen busy with holiday prep work. While her mom would usually shoo Tran away to focus on other activities, there was one dessert that always required a second set of hands: chè dậu xanh kho, or dried mung bean pudding.

The dish is simple, yet labor intensive, and to make it requires some advanced prep. The dried mung beans need to be soaked overnight before they’re boiled with sugar, water and tapioca starch. Once the pudding is cooked, it’s quickly ladled onto small plates. The next step is a critical one that Tran found herself in charge of as a third grader.

“You have to bounce the plate on your hand to flatten out the mung bean pudding. You have to do this immediately since it sets pretty quickly,” she recalls. “So if you want a flat, beautiful presentation, you have to bounce, bounce, bounce, sprinkle a bit of sesame seed, then move on and do the next plate before the mung bean dries.”

Over the years, the mother-daughter team developed a rhythm. Tran’s mom would keep an eye on the pudding and constantly stir to keep it from sticking to the pot, while she’d bounce and sprinkle, bounce and sprinkle, until all of the pudding was set. They’d typically make enough to fill six plates — two for each of their home’s Tết altars — and sometimes extra to share with family and friends. “Thinking back on it now, it’s a pretty special memory and a pretty special time,” says Tran. “It was always something that me and my mom did together.”

These are the memories that inspired Bánh By Lauren, the dessert business that Tran started in 2020 after she was laid off from her job at Gramercy Tavern. Making sweets that paid homage to her Vietnamese American heritage and utilized her International Culinary Center training had been an idea that popped up in the past. Just a month into her new job at Gramercy Tavern, Tran won the restaurant’s staff-only Thanksgiving pie contest with a pandan-coconut pie smothered in lemongrass whipped cream. “Winning that and having that at Gramercy Tavern was a light bulb that I can do Asian desserts or Asian flavors in a Western dessert. I can introduce these flavors in a different way,” she says.

But it stayed just an idea until Tran, like so many others who worked in the restaurant industry, was unemployed and stuck at home. She made the most of the quarantine time by brushing up on baking skills, working her way down her pastry school curriculum and passing treats along to friends. She noticed that many of her peers were doing the same, but going one step further and selling what they made.

“Everyone was doing these pickups, these pop ups, these deliveries, but I didn’t have anything that I felt like was differentiating enough. Then, I realized I was actually craving Vietnamese desserts. They had always been accessible when I would go home to visit family in Houston, California or Seattle. COVID took that away and that’s when I realized I was going to start making these Vietnamese desserts.”

Bánh By Lauren officially launched in fall 2020 with a menu that featured some French treats, a traditional Vietnamese one and a slice of the pandan-coconut chiffon cake that’d become one of Tran’s signature desserts. Everything was handmade in the small Lower East Side apartment that she shared with her then-boyfriend, now-husband and business partner Garland Wong, and a portion of proceeds from the Bánh boxes were donated to local non-profit Welcome to Chinatown.

Tran continued to integrate classic Vietnamese sweets into her rotation. Dishes such as bánh bò nướng (a chewy honeycomb cake), bánh cam (fried sesame-studded glutinous rice balls) and xôi vò (sweet glutinous rice mixed with mung bean) all made appearances over the coming weeks and months. But for her first Tết collection in 2022, Tran thought back to the desserts of her childhood and ultimately settled on chè dậu xanh kho.

“This brand is what I remember about growing up as a Vietnamese American. I know it’s probably different everywhere. Every Vietnamese American has a different story and a different history. But when I look at Lunar New Year, I knew this pudding was the one thing I really had to do. I didn’t know how to make it, but I felt like I should, so I called my mom and I got the recipe from her.”

Because Tran had an inkling she’d eventually want to make chè dậu xanh kho, she had asked her mom to show her the steps again the year before. “I even took a video of her making it, because that was how I was going to know what the consistency is, because pictures don’t really do it justice.” But it wasn’t until she began testing the pudding in her New York City kitchen that it finally all clicked and Tran realized why her mom always needed help with this particular dessert.

“I tried doing it on my own. I cooked it, then I put it on the plate and was trying to bounce it when I realized the pudding that was still on the stove was drying out, too,” she recalls. “Garland was on the computer and I’m like, ‘Can you come here? I need you to bounce this plate.’” They eventually got a hang of it and Tran has been deeply grateful for the opportunity to share this special part of her childhood and heritage. “Once I started this business, I started thinking more about being Asian American, being Vietnamese American, and wanting to know more than I did before.”

Those who live in the New York City area will be excited to hear that, after three years of pick-ups and pop-ups, Bánh By Lauren has finally found a permanent home in the Chinatown-Two Bridges area. The shop will be opening in spring 2024 with variations of Tran’s chiffon cake, sesame balls and rotating Vietnamese desserts along with a full coffee program. “We’re hoping to be in the neighborhood for a long time and hoping to do whatever we can to help bring more foot traffic and more awareness to Chinatown.”

Until then, Tran has some tips for those who may want to try making mung bean pudding at home for Lunar New Year:

Don’t Soak the Mung Beans for Too Long

The dried mung beans require an overnight soak, but Tran warns that leaving them in water for too long will actually do more harm than good. “I’ve done this before, just I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to make the mung bean until later.’ [Then] they’ll ferment and they’ll stink! So definitely just soak for eight to 12 hours and make sure you rinse the beans.” She recommends rinsing the soaked beans until the water runs clear.

Use Vanilla Bean Paste

Tran’s version of the pudding is sweetened with organic sugar and flavored with vanilla paste. The latter is a departure from her mom’s recipe, which called for imitation vanilla powder, but gives the pudding a more aromatic, less artificial flavor.

Keep Stirring and Work Quickly

The pudding needs constant stirring as it cooks so it doesn’t stick to the pot and burn. “You mix it by hand with a wooden spoon and you constantly have to be mixing this mixture for 30 minutes.” Once it comes together, scoop it out quickly into a plate and bounce to flatten, as Tran used to do as a kid, or let it set in a bowl or ramekin. Just don’t forget to keep stirring what’s still left in the pot.

Enjoy It Sooner Rather Than Later

Chè dậu xanh kho is best enjoyed in the first 24 hours, but if you want to prep them ahead, Tran says they can be stored in the fridge for two to three days.

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