Calories in Bharwa Bhindi

Bharwa bhindi is the lightest of the 22 sabzis in this comparison, and the recipe explains why. It counts 100 g of okra and 2 teaspoons of oil as one bowl; the stuffing is a dry masala of ground spices, and spices are not counted because they add very little. So this is slit bhindi filled with spice and cooked gently, not the richer versions packed with besan, crushed peanuts or coconut. The bowl is also a modest one. A home katori may hold more or less than the recipe's 100 g of bhindi.

Even in the lightest sabzi, the oil is most of the story. Fat supplies 74% of the energy, carbohydrate 17% and protein 9%, and the fat is the 2 teaspoons of oil. The bhindi contributes 4.3 g of carbohydrate and 4.6 g of fibre, and very little energy. The plain bhindi sabzi in the same set of recipes is 184 kcal a bowl, because it uses more okra, some onion and more oil; the stuffing itself is not what separates the two.

A bowl is about 5% of a sedentary man's daily energy requirement and 6% of a woman's, which leaves plenty of room for dal, roti and rice. With 2.3 g of protein it adds little to the protein of the meal, and at 104 kcal it will not fill anyone up alone, though its 4.6 g of fibre helps. It works best as the light vegetable beside a dal or a paneer dish, where a second helping, 208 kcal for two bowls, is still modest.

The 104 kcal figure holds only for a spice-stuffed, lightly oiled version. Bharwa bhindi at a restaurant or a wedding is usually fried and often stuffed with besan or nuts, and will be well above it. Salt goes into the stuffing as well as on the bhindi, so the dish can be saltier than it looks. Anyone on a salt restriction set by a doctor or dietitian should go easy on the salt in the masala.