Calories in Rajma

This is the curry without the chawal. One bowl in the reference recipe is made from 30 g of raw rajma, 50 g of tomato, 25 g of onion and one and a half teaspoons of oil. Thirty grams of dry beans is a small katori once cooked, and smaller than the helping most people pour over a plate of rice, where two ladles are normal. So read 172 kcal as the figure for a measured side bowl. At that size rajma is the fourth lightest of the 20 dals and pulse curries compared here.

Carbohydrate supplies 46% of the energy, fat 37% and protein 17%. The beans provide the starch, the protein and most of the 7 g of fibre. The fat, 6.9 g, is nearly all cooking oil, since rajma itself is very lean. The tomato and onion gravy that gives rajma its body costs little in calories. What makes a home or dhaba rajma heavier than this is seldom the bean: it is more oil in the masala, butter or cream stirred in at the end, and a bigger serving.

A bowl of rajma is about 8% of a sedentary man's daily energy requirement and 10% of a woman's. Two bowls give 344 kcal and 14.2 g of protein, three give 516 kcal and 21.3 g. Rajma with rice is one of the standard examples of a pulse and a cereal completing each other's protein. The bowl also has 7 g of fibre, which is part of why rajma chawal keeps people full for hours. For a balanced plate, let the rajma be generous and the rice measured, with onion salad or curd on the side.

Rajma must be soaked and then boiled until completely soft; undercooked rajma can cause vomiting and stomach pain, and slow cookers that never reach a full boil are a known culprit. Beans are rich in potassium and protein, so people on a renal diet should ask their doctor or dietitian how much rajma suits them.