4 to 6dried Thai or Mexican puya chiliesstemmed and torn in half with seeds shaken out
Instructions
Using your hands, break the tofu into small chunks to resemble cooked ground meat. The tofu will shrink during cooking so don’t go to far. Set aside near the stove with the beans, onion, and fresh chile. Set the garlic and basil (or minnearby.
For a flavoring sauce, stir together the fish sauce, soy sauce, molasses, and water. Taste and adjust for a salty-sweet flavor; add sugar by the pinch if you want a sweet finish. Set near the stove with the remaining ingredients.
In a large skillet, heat the whole dried chiles and oil over medium-low heat, cooking for 4 or 5 minutes until dark-brown. Leaving the oil in the pan, use a slotted spoon to transfer the chilies to a paper-towel-lined plate. Once cool, coarsely crumble chilies and add to the flavoring sauce. (If you’re using the ground, toasted chile, just add to the sauce mixture.)
Reheat the skillet over medium-high or high heat. Add the garlic and slide the pan off heat, stirring often, until light brown, about 30 seconds. Replace the skillet on the burner over medium-high or high heat, then add the tofu, beans, onion and fresh red chiles. Stir-fry, constantly stirring the tofu, until it’s just barely cooked through, about 1 minute.
Add the seasoning sauce mixture and cook until liquid has been absorbed, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, but leave the skillet on the hot burner. Stir in the basil and cook until wilted and fragrant, 15 seconds. Transfer to a shallow bowl and serve.
Notes
For information on vegan fish sauce, see this post.
Use the maximum number of chiles if you like a nice hot finish.
If you happen to use firm tofu, give the tofu a very gentle squeeze to expel a tiny bit of moisture. That squeeze will bring the tofu closer to extra-firm in texture.
If you have Chinese dark soy sauce, use 1 ½ tablespoons instead of the regular soy and molasses.