Calories and protein in a katori of dal makhani, with and without butter
Also called maa ki dal, kaali dal.
The short answer
1 katori, about 150 g, normal butter
150 kcal
6.5 g protein
Fat 7 g · carbs 18 g · fibre 5 g · Vegetarian
Portion: a 150 ml steel katori, filled level. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central
Restaurant dal makhani is usually richer than a home pot, with more cream and butter. The cream is counted separately from the butter here, so only the butter changes with the oil level.
With and without butter
The same 1 katori, changing only the butter stirred in at the end. Normal is about 4.5 g in this portion. A little halves the recipe’s fat and a lot doubles it, so in a portion of the same weight a lot comes out a little under double. These are the four levels the app asks about, with the same numbers.
| Butter | Added | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | 0 g | 120 kcal | 7 g |
| A little | 2.5 g | 140 kcal | 6.5 g |
| Normal | 4.5 g | 150 kcal | 6.5 g |
| A lot | 9 g | 180 kcal | 6.5 g |
What moves the number
- Urad dalabout 65 kcal
- Butter (the butter stirred in at the end)about 35 kcal
- Creamabout 25 kcal
The recipe behind these numbers
Raw ingredient weights in one 1 katori, scaled from the batch recipe in the Homekcal app’s dish table, with normal butter. Water, salt and spices add almost no energy but are listed so the recipe is complete. If your version has more of something, the numbers move with it.
| Ingredient | Weight | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urad dalUSDA: Mungo beans, mature seeds, raw | 18 g | 65 | 4.5 g |
| RajmaUSDA: Beans, kidney, red, mature seeds, raw | 4.5 g | 15 | 1 g |
| WaterUSDA: Beverages, water, tap, drinking | 138 g | 0 | 0 g |
| Tomato pureeUSDA: Tomato products, canned, puree, without salt added | 18 g | 5 | 0.5 g |
| OnionUSDA: Onions, raw | 9 g | 5 | 0 g |
| GingerUSDA: Ginger root, raw | 1.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| GarlicUSDA: Garlic, raw | 1.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| Chilli powderUSDA: Spices, pepper, red or cayenne | 0.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| Garam masalaUSDA: Spices, curry powder | 0.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| SaltUSDA: Salt, table | 1 g | 0 | 0 g |
| CreamUSDA: Cream, fluid, heavy whipping | 7 g | 25 | 0 g |
| ButterUSDA: Butter, saltedThe butter stirred in at the end | 4.5 g | 35 | 0 g |
What we could not match
Stand ins and assumptions in this recipe that a person still has to check.
- Restaurant versions usually carry much more oil, ghee, butter or cream than this home recipe.
- Whole black urad is calculated from USDA mungo beans (same species), split and whole assumed equal.
How this was worked out
This is the same dish the Homekcal app logs, from the same table. Each raw ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its per-100 g values in USDA FoodData Central, the batch is added up and divided by the cooked weight it makes. Calories are rounded to the nearest 10 and grams to the nearest gram, because a standard recipe is not your recipe. These are calculated values, not weighed or lab tested meals, and home versions vary a lot.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2026. fdc.nal.usda.gov. Public domain (CC0).
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