LFC THIRUVANANTHAPURAM | AUGUST 2026
If there is one dish that will always have room on the dining table, it is kheer. It is timeless, typically made of milk, sugar, jaggery, spices, dried fruit, and rice (sometimes replaced by vermicelli, sago or tapioca). Kheer is cooked differently across the Indian subcontinent, and goes by different names, including payasam, khir, payesh, and feni.
‘Benami’ kheer comes from Lucknow. It is part of Mughlai Awadhi cuisine, and originates from the royal kitchen. ‘Benami’, in Urdu, translates to ‘without a name.’ The kheer was named ‘nameless’ as a tact, to keep hidden the unusual ingredient added to it.
The sweet dish’s uncommon ingredient is actually a pantry staple in most Indian kitchens, and the backbone of everyday cooking: garlic. Garlic ki kheer. It is likely that you repeated the name twice, with equal concern and confusion, even perhaps with a bit of repulsion? Unbelieving as you might be, upon testing this recipe—following the Awadhi method—the kheer tasted like a spoonful of success.
Awadhi cuisine has used garlic as a versatile ingredient, even stirring it subtly into desserts. This atypical pairing worked because the garlic’s pungency was mellowed by a meticulous cooking process. To begin with, raw garlic that was fresh and plump was chosen; fresher the garlic, more complex and crisper its flavour. Once the garlic reached the kitchen, its pungency was reduced through various processes. It was soaked in alum soda for half an hour, after which it was washed 4-5 times to do away with its sourness. Its pungency further dwindled when cooked with milk and sugar.
The final dish—rose-flavoured kheer garnished with nuts and saffron—is creamy and subtly garlicky, a flavour that settles on the tongue rather pleasantly. Although a time-consuming, age-old cooking process, its science and ingenuity was reconceived by Chef Sanjaya Samanta, our experienced halwai from Kolkata. His speciality is milk sweets, having worked at sundry sweet shops across India.
With Chef Sanjay leading the way, we tried other such unique recipes: mirchi ka halwa (chilli pudding) is mildly green, slightly sweet, and slightly spicy; mutton halwa (mutton pudding) is full of protein and melts in your mouth, like a sweeter version of a galouti kebab. Over time, these traditional recipes have been neglected and forgotten, getting buried into the past as the decades go by.
In an effort to revive such recipes, several groups across the country are researching and documenting traditional cuisines. For instance, Eastern, a Kerala-based spice brand, travelled through the north Malabar region, and collected roughly 300 recipes sourced from several households.
At the Local Food Club (LFC) meet-up at our hotel in Thiruvananthapuram, Benami kheer was well-received by both LFC members and other hotel guests. Following tradition, we didn’t reveal the ‘garlic gimmick’, and many people mistook the slivers of garlic for almonds. Upon revealing its alternate name of garlic kheer, members were beguiled, curious to know more about its Awadhi backstory.
Inspired by Awadhi cuisine, we hope not only to carry forward their recipes, but also their spirit of innovation and ingenuity. As for what’s next for garlic in dessert, it is a combination we’re trying to cream to the maximum, with a new ice-cream flavour churning in the back!
