Calories in Vegetable Upma

Unlike the small bowl used for plain upma, this recipe is a whole plate for one person. It cooks 40 g of suji with 20 g of green peas, 10 g of carrot, 20 g of onion, 10 g of peanuts, 5 g of urad dal and 10 g of oil, and the entire batch counts as 1 serving. That is close to what an adult is served at home or in a canteen, so the figure can be used without much adjustment, provided the suji per person is around 40 g. Someone who eats a small katori of it should look at the half-plate figure of 172 kcal instead.

Carbohydrate supplies 46% of the energy, fat 41% and protein 13%. The suji is the main source of starch. The fat comes from two places, the 10 g of cooking oil and the 10 g of peanuts, and the peanuts earn their place by also lifting the protein to 11.1 g. The vegetables are a modest part of the plate, 20 g of peas, 10 g of carrot and 20 g of onion, but together with the suji and peanuts they bring the fibre to 9.9 g.

This is a full meal's worth of energy: one plate is about 16% of a sedentary man's daily requirement and 21% of a woman's. It needs little beside it, perhaps curd or buttermilk, and it already provides 11.1 g of protein and 9.9 g of fibre, which is more than a cereal breakfast usually manages. Two plates would be 690 kcal, more than most people need at one sitting. If it is being eaten as a mid-morning or evening snack, half a plate at 172 kcal is the sensible measure.

The word vegetable can make this plate sound lighter than it is. Peas, carrot and onion are a small part of it; suji, oil and peanuts supply nearly all of the 345 kcal, and fat accounts for 41% of the energy. Hotel and canteen versions are often cooked with more oil and are well salted too. Anyone who has been told to limit salt or fat for blood pressure or a heart condition should keep within the limits set by their doctor or dietitian.