Calories in Dal Makhani

The recipe is a restrained, home kitchen dal makhani. For 4 portions it uses 140 g of whole black urad, 40 g of rajma, 100 g of tomato, 60 g of onion, a little ginger, 3 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of low fat cream. The source does not define the bowl, so a serving here means a quarter of that pot: 35 g of urad, 10 g of rajma, a little over 2 teaspoons of butter and one and a half teaspoons of cream. A restaurant dal makhani, slow-cooked with far more butter and full cream and served in a larger bowl, will not match this figure.

Carbohydrate supplies 44% of the energy, fat 38% and protein 18%. In the thinner home dals the oil dominates; here a good part of the energy is the pulses themselves, because each portion holds more raw dal than a plain dal does. The butter and cream account for most of the 10.8 g of fat, and theirs is largely saturated fat. The whole urad and rajma, skins on, give 11.7 g of protein and 8 g of fibre. It ranks 17 out of 20 in this group, with only chana dal, dalma and panchmel dal above it.

One portion of dal makhani takes about 12% of a sedentary man's daily energy requirement and 16% of a woman's. Two portions come to 524 kcal and 23.4 g of protein, three to 786 kcal. As dals go it gives a solid 11.7 g of protein and 8 g of fibre, and with roti or rice the protein of the meal is more complete. The cost is saturated fat. A workable plate is one portion of dal makhani, plain roti or steamed rice, and a salad or a dry vegetable, with the butter left off the bread.

The butter and cream make the fat in each portion largely saturated and bring cholesterol with it, and a restaurant bowl will carry a good deal more. The home version can be an everyday dal; the restaurant one is better counted as a rich dish. People with raised cholesterol or heart disease, and anyone told to limit saturated fat, should go by their doctor's or dietitian's advice on how often dal makhani fits.