1. Drain water from tofu, then smash it. Place between two cutting boards or whatever you have, and use a towel to soak up the water until tofu is about 1/2"thick. Really smoosh all the water out!
2. Mix all the spices and sugar with the flour. Carefully take the tofu apart where it naturally is too thin to hold together; it's like strips. Make sure tofu is very cold before rolling in flour.
3. Roll cold tofu in flour and spice mixture then let it sit on a plate (very important) and molecularly bond with the flour for 15 minutes-1 hour.
4. Fry in oil until crispy and browned.
It's great with any dipping sauce! I served it with mashed potatoes and artichokes. I bet you could bake it at 350 degrees F for 1 hour, turning a couple times carefully. Enjoy!
Source of recipe: This recipe is courtesy of a wonderful accident! I froze the soft silken tofu, when it defrosted all the water just oozed out, I kept squeezing (cause it was kinda fun) and the resulting flattened square looked like something I could tear into strips. I thought the silken soft tofu wouldn't work for meat substitutes, but this is why it is so good! I don't want to be running off at the mouth but this recipe is more technique than ingredients.