Calories in Plain Pulao

The figure belongs to one standard recipe: 80 g of raw rice, 50 g of sliced onion and 1 tablespoon of oil, cooked with whole spices as a single plate. Rice takes up water and swells as it cooks, so 80 g of raw grain becomes a full dinner plate of pulao, the amount a person eats when rice is the centre of the meal. Where pulao is one item among several and the helping is a couple of serving spoons, half a plate at 216 kcal is the closer guide. Pulao cooked for a function or bought outside is usually richer than this, because cooks there are freer with ghee.

Carbohydrate supplies 63% of the energy, and nearly all of that is the rice. Fat supplies 30%, and since the recipe has no nuts, paneer or meat, that fat is simply the oil in the pan. Protein accounts for 7%. Put plainly, this is boiled rice plus a tablespoon of oil and some softened onion. The onion brings flavour and part of the 5.2 g of fibre; the bay leaf, cloves and cardamom bring aroma and next to no energy. It also explains why jeera rice in the same set of recipes is lower at 366 kcal: the rice is the same, the fat is less.

One plate supplies about 20% of a sedentary man's daily energy requirement and 26% of a woman's, and that is before the dal, curry or raita beside it. With 7.2 g of protein, it is a weak main dish on its own. What it needs is company: a bowl of dal or rajma, curd, or an egg, paneer or chicken dish for protein, and a sabzi or salad for bulk. Two plates come to 864 kcal and 134.4 g of carbohydrate, which is a lot of rice for one sitting unless the day involves hard physical work.

Salt is the detail that goes unnoticed. Pulao is salted in the pot, and pickle, papad or a salted raita beside it add more. People who have been told to cut salt for blood pressure or a kidney condition should keep to the limits their doctor or dietitian has set. For everyone else the thing to watch is the second helping, since pulao is easy to keep spooning and each extra half plate adds another 216 kcal.