Calories in Rabri

Rabri is milk boiled down slowly, with the layers of cream that form on top pushed back in, then sweetened. The recipe behind the figure starts with 1015 ml of milk, 58 g of sugar, 17 g of cashews and 5.5 g of almonds and makes 5 portions. The source does not say how large its bowl is, so a serving here means one of those 5: the solids of 203 ml of milk with 12 g of sugar and a few grams of nuts. Once the milk has reduced, that is a small katori of thick rabri. In the set of 20 sweets it is 9th from the lightest and the lightest of those served by the bowl.

Fat supplies 46% of the energy, carbohydrate 40% and protein 13%. Almost all of it is milk: reducing 1015 ml of milk into 5 small portions concentrates the fat, the protein and the milk sugar, and the 12 g of added sugar does the rest. Each portion therefore carries 7.7 g of protein in a few spoonfuls. The nuts are a minor part at 3.5 g of cashew and 1 g of almond. Rabri made thicker than this, as lachha rabri is, holds more milk in every spoon and is correspondingly heavier.

A portion of rabri covers about 11% of a sedentary man's daily energy requirement and 14% of a woman's, and two portions come to 452 kcal. Eaten by itself in a small katori, rabri is a moderate dessert that happens to carry the protein and calcium of a glass of milk. Used as a topping it is a different matter, because the sweet beneath it has its own calories. Half a portion, about 113 kcal, is enough to pour over fruit such as sliced banana or mango, which makes a lighter plate than rabri with a fried sweet.

A portion is counted at 22.2 g of sugars, a figure that includes the concentrated natural sugar of the milk along with the 12 g added, and 11.8 g of fat, 46% of its energy. Shop rabri can be thicker and sweeter than this recipe. People who do not tolerate milk well will find rabri harder going than plain milk, since it is concentrated, and anyone with diabetes should take portion advice from their doctor or dietitian.