Soy Sausage

I have no idea what took me so long to make these sausages. This recipe has been on my list to try for nearly two years. As with a lot of the recipes in the Cafe Flora Cookbook it is a bit time consuming, but worth it in the end. These were really good and dare I say tasted like real sausage.
Café Flora Vegan Soy Sausage
from Café Flora Cookbook
5 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) TVP (unflavored textured vegetable protien)
1 1/4 cups very hot water
2 tablespoons Egg Replacer or other egg substitute equal to 2 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 block extra firm tofu pressed or extrafirm tofu
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
2 teaspoon fennel seeds toasted and coarsely ground
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons corn starch
Vegetable oil for frying
Prepare the TVP. In a large bowl, cover the TVP with the hot water, stir once, and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let steam for 15 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap, put the TVP in a mesh strainer over a bowl to drain.
Make the sausage mixture. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg replacer with the cold water until it is slightly foamy like whipped egg white. Pat the tofu dry, and crumble into the egg replacer. Mix with your hands until thoroughly combined. Add the TVP along with all the remaining ingredients except oil, and mix well.Shape the patties. Using 3 tablespoons of the TVP mixture for each patty, shape it into balls. Gently flatten each ball with your fingertips into a patty about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Smooth out the jagged edges so they don't break off when you cook them. Lay the patties on an ungreased cookie sheet until you are ready to fry them.Fry the sausage. Heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. (If you don't have a nonstick pan, any heavy skillet works well.) When it's hot, put several patties in the pan, leaving enough room to flip them easily. Cook on each side until browned and heated through, about 2 minutes per side. Drain the patties on paper towels. Keep them warm in a 200 degree oven until ready to serve (no longer than half and hour).