Calories by quantity and serving size
| Amount | Weight | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 katori (150 ml) | 150 g | 155 kcal | 7 g | 21 g | 5.5 g |
| 2 x katori (150 ml) | 300 g | 315 kcal | 14 g | 42.5 g | 11 g |
| 3 x katori (150 ml) | 450 g | 470 kcal | 20.5 g | 63.5 g | 16.5 g |
| 4 x katori (150 ml) | 600 g | 630 kcal | 27.5 g | 85 g | 22 g |
| 1 big katori (200 ml) | 200 g | 210 kcal | 9 g | 28.5 g | 7.5 g |
| Half a katori (75 ml) | 75 g | 80 kcal | 3.5 g | 10.5 g | 2.5 g |
| 100 g | 100 g | 105 kcal | 4.5 g | 14 g | 3.5 g |
How cooking and toppings change the calories
| Version | Calories | Protein | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 katori (150 ml) (as above) | 155 kcal | 7 g | 5.5 g |
| 1 katori dal with 1 tsp extra ghee on top | 200 kcal | 7 g | 10.5 g |
| Dal chawal: 1 katori dal with 1 katori (150 g) cooked rice | 350 kcal | 11 g | 6 g |
| 1 katori dal with 2 medium plain rotis | 340 kcal | 14 g | 7 g |
Nutrition facts for 1 katori (150 ml)
| Nutrient | 1 katori (150 ml) | Per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 155 kcal | 105 kcal |
| Protein | 7 g | 4.5 g |
| Carbohydrates | 21 g | 14 g |
| Fat | 5.5 g | 3.5 g |
| Fibre | 5 g | 3.5 g |
| Sugars | not available | not available |
| Sodium | 7 mg | 5 mg |
| Potassium | 499 mg | 333 mg |
| Calcium | 45 mg | 30 mg |
| Iron | 1.7 mg | 1.1 mg |
Is dal good for weight loss?
Yes. Dal is one of the most useful everyday foods for weight loss on an Indian diet. A katori gives 7 g of protein and 5 g of fibre for about 155 kcal, and protein with fibre keeps you full for longer than the same calories from rice or roti alone.
The plate around it decides the total. Dal chawal with a katori of rice comes to about 350 kcal, and dal with two plain rotis about 340 kcal. Both are sensible meals. To make it lighter, keep the tadka to the measured ghee, take a second katori of dal rather than a second helping of rice, and add a sabzi for volume. If you have kidney disease or diabetes, ask your doctor or a registered dietitian how much dal and rice suit you.
Tips to keep dal lighter
- Thick or thin changes the count. Adding water spreads the same dal over more katoris, so a thin dal has fewer calories and less protein per katori. If your dal is thick enough to hold a spoon upright, count each katori as more than this page shows.
- Measure the tadka. Most of the fat sits in the tadka. A teaspoon of ghee per katori is plenty for flavour; an extra teaspoon at the table takes a katori to about 200 kcal.
- Restaurant dal is a different dish. Dal makhani and dal fry are usually cooked with more butter, cream or oil, so do not log them as home dal.
- Use dal for protein. The protein calculator shows how many katoris help you reach your daily target, and how to count calories in Indian food explains how to weigh your own katori once.
1 katori dal me kitni calorie hoti hai? Ghar ki toor dal ki ek katori (150 ml) mein lagbhag 155 kcal aur 7 g protein hota hai.
Dal compared
| Food (per 100 g) | Calories | Protein | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dal | 105 kcal | 4.5 g | - |
| Khichdi | 90 kcal | 2.5 g | Khichdi cooks dal together with rice, so it has more carbs and less protein per katori than dal on its own. |
| Paneer | 305 kcal | 19 g | Paneer has far more protein per 100 g but also far more fat; dal brings protein with fibre and little fat. |
How we calculated these numbers
Calculated from a standard home recipe (4 katoris of toor dal tadka, 600 g cooked) using USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient.
Standard recipe (4 katoris of toor dal tadka): 120 g of toor dal is rinsed and pressure-cooked with about 450 ml of water until soft, then mashed. A tadka of 20 g ghee (about 4 tsp) with cumin, garlic, onion and tomato is stirred in and the dal simmers for a few minutes. We take the finished dal as 600 g, five times the weight of the raw dal: a medium, pourable consistency. That puts 30 g of raw dal in each 150 ml katori, the amount of pulses ICMR-NIN's 2024 sample diet charts suggest for one meal. The final weight is our stated assumption; a thicker dal has more calories per katori and a thinner one fewer. Spices, salt and curry leaves add almost nothing and are left out. USDA lists whole pigeon peas; dehusked toor dal has similar calories and protein but less fibre (IFCT 2017 gives 9.1 g per 100 g for red gram dal against 22.8 g for the whole seed), so treat the fibre figure as an upper estimate. For comparison, USDA's survey entry 'Dal' (FDC 2707427) is 145 kcal per 100 g because it is modelled as boiled lentils with ghee and no extra water, which is a much thicker dal than most homes serve.
- Toor dal (arhar, pigeon peas), raw: 120 g
- Tomato, 1 medium: 100 g
- Onion, about half a medium onion: 60 g
- Ghee for the tadka, about 4 tsp: 20 g
Calories are rounded to the nearest 5 kcal and macros to the nearest 0.5 g. Home cooking varies, mostly in portion size and oil, so treat these as good estimates rather than exact values. The text on this page was drafted with AI assistance and checked by the Calo AI Team; every number is calculated from the data above. Read more in how we calculate.