Every time John and I have made this dish we are hoping it will turn out like our favorite dish at a nearby Thai restaurant but it doesn’t. Of course we keep making the same recipe so there is no reason to think it will miraculously transform itself. Maybe we should just get take-out.

Tonight’s dish turned out too salty. I love salty foods but this was over the top even for me. The sauce has quite a bit of fish sauce in it which is quite salty. If you add any additional salt (which we did) it becomes way more salty. Saltiness aside, the tofu was quite tasty and the red bell pepper pieces were very good.

If you use a vegan fish sauce this is potentially a very delicious vegan dish. John marinated the tofu in nuoc cham and then you stir fry the tofu, onion, red bell pepper, and eggplant together adding the nuoc cham marinade and the basil in at the end. Serve with rice.