Calories in Uttapam

An uttapam starts from dosa batter but is poured thick and cooked slowly with vegetables pressed into the top. The recipe behind the figure uses 100 g of rice, 30 g of urad dal and 25 g each of cabbage, tomato, carrot and onion, with 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter, to make 4. The source does not specify a diameter, so a serving is one of those 4 portions: about 25 g of rice, 7.5 g of dal and 3/4 teaspoon each of oil and butter. Many home uttapams are poured thicker, from more batter, and would be larger than this.

Carbohydrate supplies 58% of the energy, fat 32% and protein 10%. The rice and dal account for the starch and the protein. The fat is all added at the tawa, as oil and butter in equal measure, and the butter is why a fair share of the 6.1 g of fat is saturated. The vegetables are a thin layer, about 6 g of each per uttapam, so they contribute colour, some of the 3 g of fibre and very few calories. A thick uttapam needs fat on both sides to cook through, which is where it parts company with a plain dosa.

Two uttapams come to 348 kcal and 8.4 g of protein, and one is about 8% of a sedentary man's daily energy requirement and 10% of a woman's. As a breakfast, two with sambar is a complete plate for most people. The built-in vegetables are a point in its favour, but the quantity is small, so it does not replace a vegetable dish at another meal. Three reach 522 kcal and 18.3 g of fat, all of that fat added on the tawa.

An uttapam is often thought of as the vegetable option and therefore the lighter one. In this set of recipes it is the other way round: because of the oil and butter it is higher in calories than a plain dosa, 174 kcal against 138 kcal, and the butter brings saturated fat with it. If you have been advised to cut down on saturated fat because of your cholesterol, follow the guidance of your doctor or dietitian on cooking fats.