How many calories are in a Sri Lankan rice and curry?
A full Sri Lankan rice and curry plate, rice with a fish curry, parippu, a mallung, pol sambol and a couple of papadums, comes to about 920 kcal. If you have seen figures around 280 for the same dish, they are counting the rice and nothing else. Nobody is wrong. They are describing different plates.
The plate, as served
A cupped handful of rice, a ladle each of fish curry and parippu, a spoon of mallung, two tablespoons of pol sambol and two fried papadums.
Where the calories come from
| Nutrient | Grams | Calories | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein | 40g | 160 | 18% |
| Carbs | 90g | 360 | 40% |
| Fat | 43g | 387 | 43% |
| Fibre | 15g | counted within carbs | |
The ring is sized by calories, not grams: protein and carbs are 4 kcal a gram, fat is 9. Drawn by grams, fat would look like a sliver of what it actually contributes.
What is on the plate
| Parippu, with coconut milkA ladle, about 150 g | 210 kcal |
| White rice, cookedA cupped handful, about 150 g cooked | 195 kcal |
| Fish curryA ladle, about 150 g | 190 kcal |
| Papadum, fried x2One, about 13 g | 120 kcal |
| Pol sambolTwo tablespoons, about 30 g | 110 kcal |
| Mallung (shredded greens with coconut)About 80 g | 95 kcal |
The same dish, several ways
This is where the calories actually move. Not the ingredient, the cooking.
- With a brinjal moju1,085+165
Aubergine soaks up more oil than anything else on a Sri Lankan table, which is exactly why it tastes like that.
- Rice cooked in coconut milk1,005+85
Same plate, one change in the pot. About 85 kcal, and it is invisible on the plate.
- A cupped handful of rice, a ladle each of fish curry and parippu, a spoon of mallung, two tablespoons of pol sambol and two fried papadums.As served920
- Roasted papadums, dhal without the coconut milk835-85
Two small swaps at the edges of the plate. The rice, the curry and the sambol are untouched.
- Just rice and dhal470-450
The weekday plate, and roughly what the low published figures are actually counting.
Where each number comes from
Composition tables list ingredients, not dinners. There is no row anywhere for this plate, so it is built from its parts, and the preparation assumed for each part is written next to it, because that assumption is usually worth more calories than the ingredient.
| Component | Portion and preparation | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Parippu, with coconut milk | A ladle, about 150 gMasoor dal finished with thick coconut milk, the Sri Lankan way. About 45 kcal more than the same dal tempered without it. | 210 |
| White rice, cooked | A cupped handful, about 150 g cookedBoiled or steamed in water, no fat added. | 195 |
| Fish curry | A ladle, about 150 gCoconut milk based, home portion of oil. | 190 |
| Papadum, fried x2 | One, about 13 gDeep-fried. | 120 |
| Pol sambol | Two tablespoons, about 30 gScraped fresh coconut with chilli, lime and onion. Small portion, dense calories, and it is on almost every plate. | 110 |
| Mallung (shredded greens with coconut) | About 80 gGreens stir-cooked with scraped fresh coconut. The coconut is most of the calories and all of the point. | 95 |
| Total | 920 | |
Sources: Sri Lankan Food Composition Database, USDA FoodData Central, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (ICMR-NIN). Every figure is an estimate with a range around it, and is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal rather than pretending to a precision that does not exist.
Why you will see 280 to 910 kcal quoted for this
This is the widest spread we found for any dish, and none of the pages quoting it explain themselves. The low figures are a cup of rice. The high ones are a full plate with three curries, a sambol and papadums. The portion is the entire disagreement.
Which is why this page shows the sum instead of asserting a total. Build the plate you actually eat and the number is yours rather than an average of strangers.
Build your own plateCommon questions
- How many calories are in a Sri Lankan rice and curry?
- A full plate with rice, a fish curry, parippu, a mallung, pol sambol and two papadums is about 920 kcal. A weekday plate of rice, dhal and sambol is closer to 470. Both are "rice and curry", which is why published figures vary so much.
- Why do calorie counts for rice and curry vary from 280 to 910?
- Because they describe different plates. Composition tables list ingredients, not dinners, so each site assembles its own implied portion and publishes the total without saying what went into it. There is no row anywhere for the plate your mother makes.
- Is pol sambol high in calories?
- For its size, yes. Two tablespoons is about 110 kcal, because scraped coconut is mostly fat. It is a small portion of a big plate, and it is on almost every plate, which is a combination worth knowing about.
- How many calories are in a papadum?
- About 60 kcal fried and 40 roasted. Roasting them over a flame instead saves about 20 each, and most people eat three.
- How do I eat rice and curry in a calorie deficit?
- Do not touch the curry. Roast the papadums instead of frying them, and temper the dhal rather than finishing it with coconut milk. That is about 85 kcal off the plate, and the rice, the fish curry and the pol sambol are all untouched. If your rice is cooked in coconut milk, switching it to water is another 85 on its own.
- Does MyCalorieCoach handle Sri Lankan food?
- Yes. There is no food database to be missing from, so a rice and curry plate is handled the same way as a sandwich. Sri Lankan, South Indian and North Indian are separate choices when you start, and the coach does not substitute one for another.
Point the camera at anything.
The coach reads the plate rather than the packet, and it plans around the food you have told it you will never give up.
Join the founding waitlistOther plates
Sri Lankan is one of twelve cuisines you can pick when you start. The coach works in any of them, and in none of them exclusively.