Cumin- Lanni

Cumin is the dried seed of a herb that is a member of the parsley family. They resemble caraway seeds and are lighter in colour. Unlike caraway, cumin has minute bristles hardly visible to the naked eye. They are available dried or ground to a brownish-green powder. The seeds should be lightly roasted before use- whole or ground- to bring out the aroma.

It is very important to note that in Seychelles cumin is called lanni, derived from anis or aniseed but it is not aniseed. Aniseed is a totally different spice that is a warm licorice-tasting seed used in Asian cookery but very rarely used in Creole dishes. Aniseed is also used to flavour many alcoholic beverages such as Pernod, Ouzo and Pastis.

Ground cumin must be kept in an airtight container to retain its pungency. This spice has a strong, heavy and warm bouquet with a spicy-sweet aroma. Its flavour is pungent, powerful, sharp and slightly bitter and should be used with restraint as it can overpower all the other flavours in a dish.

Lanny is used by the Creole cook as one of the spices in grilled fish, chilli cakes and curries and is the dominant spice is moulouk or morukku. Moulouk is a savoury, crunchy snack of Indian origin. Its name derives from the Tamil word for “twisted”, which refers to its shape although the Seychellois cook twists their moulouk very differently from the Indian. The Indians twist to form concentric circles and the Seychellois twist in the form of a rope.