Calories in Chicken Curry

The recipe is a plain onion and tomato curry: 250 g of broiler chicken, 100 g of onion, 100 g of tomato, 10 g of ginger and 1 tablespoon of oil, served as 2 bowls. Each bowl therefore holds 125 g of chicken, a proper helping of meat and not just gravy. ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians give about 240 kcal for three-quarters of a cup of chicken curry. That is a smaller quantity than this bowl, and a curry ladled with more gravy and fewer pieces also comes out lower. The two figures describe different helpings of the same sort of dish. Compare the chicken on your plate with 125 g to see which is nearer.

Protein supplies 37% of the energy, fat 53% and carbohydrate 11%. For a curry that is a strong protein share: 29.2 g in a bowl, nearly all from the chicken. The fat comes partly from the 1 1/2 teaspoons of oil and partly from the chicken itself, more so when it is cooked with the skin or from fattier cuts. The onion and tomato base adds only 8.4 g of carbohydrate, so nearly all the carbohydrate of the meal comes from the rice or roti eaten with it.

One bowl is about 15% of a sedentary man's daily energy requirement and 19% of a woman's, and it supplies 29.2 g of protein, a substantial amount from one dish. What it lacks is carbohydrate and much vegetable, which is why it is eaten with rice or roti and is better with a salad or sabzi as well. Two bowls come to 640 kcal and 58.4 g of protein, more than one meal needs for most people. Often the plate gets heavy not through the curry but through the extra rice taken to finish the gravy.

This is a home recipe with a measured tablespoon of oil for the pot, and restaurant curries are typically both oilier and saltier. The protein figure depends on actually eating 125 g of chicken; gravy alone will not provide it. People with high cholesterol, high blood pressure or kidney disease should take their portion sizes for meat and salt from their doctor or dietitian.