Dry-Fried Green Beans with Tofu

From the garden

• 1½ lb green beans, topped, tailed, and left whole
• 6 dried red chilies, snipped in half, most seeds shaken out
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, sliced, whites and greens separated

From the pantry

• 8 oz extra-firm tofu, pressed dry and crumbled · the standard meatless stand-in for the minced pork
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil · divided
• 1½ cups jasmine or long-grain rice · steamed, for serving
• salt · to taste
• black pepper · ground Sichuan peppercorn is traditional if you have it

1. Start the rice first so it is ready when the beans are. Dry the green beans completely on a towel: surface water steams them instead of blistering, and the blistering is the whole point.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wok or heavy skillet over high heat and add the beans in a single layer. Toss only every minute or so, 8–10 minutes, until wrinkled, collapsed, and browned in patches.
3. Push the beans to one side, add the remaining oil, and fry the crumbled tofu 3–4 minutes with a pinch of salt, until the edges turn golden and dry rather than soft.
4. Lower the heat to medium, drop the chilies, garlic, ginger, and green onion whites into the middle of the pan, and stir 30 seconds until fragrant. Burnt garlic taints everything, so keep it moving.
5. Pour in the soy sauce, toss hard for 1 minute until it coats the beans and cooks almost dry, and finish with black pepper and the green onion tops. Serve at once over rice.