Ingredients

• 3 cups orange juice
• 1 star anise" ingrt
• 1 whole dry red chili
• ½ tsp dry ginger powder
• Pinch of white pepper
• Salt to taste

Method

1. We start with any store bought orange juice of choice. Go with your favorite brand – Tropicana, Minute Maid, Simply Fresh, yada yada yada. I chose Tropicana since that is the only decent one available here in Pune.
2. Add about 3 cups of orange juice to a sauce pan. Add a whole star anise and dry red chili. Bring to a boil and let it simmer. Add the ginger and pepper. Do Not add salt now.
3. *the star anise is a very very strong spice. It tastes like licorice or fennel. Even one star is enough to flavor a large stockpot full of rice. If you are new to the flavor, just tear off one or two petals and try using them first until you know you like the flavor.
4. Let the orange juice simmer slowly until it reduces. It will take a while. We want to boil it down until it gets sticky and starts coating the spoon. I am not sure what temperature you should have here since I don’t own any fancy candy thermometers. But if you’re into that, you can note the point here now and then use it next time.
5. The sauce will reduce to less than 1 cup before it starts coating the spoon. After this,it is mostly guesswork the way I do it. We don’t want to end up with orange candy or brittle, just a sticky sauce! Season with a pinch of salt now and switch off the heat.
6. The sauce will thicken as it cools down and become more sticky. But it should still be spoonable. You can take the anise and chili out at this time to have just a mild flavor. If you store the sauce with the spices in it, the flavor will get very strong over time.
7. Serve this sauce any way you like – as a dipping sauce, or use it along with grilled tofu, or even use it to top steamed vegetables. This is a unique flavor that will transform a boring meal into something exotic with hardly any effort on your part. I used it as a dipping sauce with my Sweet Corn Scallion dumplings, and also with grilled paneer.