Calories and protein in a bowl of fish curry, with and without mustard oil
Also called machher jhol, meen curry.
The short answer
1 serving, about 200 g, normal mustard oil
210 kcal
18 g protein
Fat 11 g · carbs 7.5 g · fibre 1.5 g · With meat or fish
Portion: one or two pieces of fish with thin gravy and potato. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central
Many home fish curries fry the fish before it goes into the gravy, so the oil used for frying counts too.
With and without mustard oil
The same 1 serving, changing only the oil the fish is fried in first. Normal is about 5.5 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.
| Mustard oil | Added | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | 0 g | 160 kcal | 19 g |
| A little | 3 g | 180 kcal | 18 g |
| Normal | 5.5 g | 210 kcal | 18 g |
| A lot | 11 g | 250 kcal | 18 g |
What moves the number
- Carpabout 120 kcal
- Mustard oil (the oil the fish is fried in first)about 50 kcal
- Potatoabout 20 kcal
The recipe behind these numbers
Raw ingredient weights in one 1 serving, scaled from the batch recipe in the Homekcal app’s dish table, with normal mustard oil. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CarpUSDA: Fish, carp, raw | 95 g | 120 | 17 g |
| PotatoUSDA: Potatoes, flesh and skin, raw | 29 g | 20 | 0.5 g |
| EggplantUSDA: Eggplant, raw | 15 g | 5 | 0 g |
| TomatoUSDA: Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average | 11 g | 0 | 0 g |
| GingerUSDA: Ginger root, raw | 1.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| TurmericUSDA: Spices, turmeric, ground | 0.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| CuminUSDA: Spices, cumin seed | 0.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| Chilli powderUSDA: Spices, pepper, red or cayenne | 0.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| Green chilliUSDA: Peppers, hot chili, green, raw | 1 g | 0 | 0 g |
| WaterUSDA: Beverages, water, tap, drinking | 95 g | 0 | 0 g |
| SaltUSDA: Salt, table | 1.5 g | 0 | 0 g |
| Mustard oilUSDA: Oil, mustardThe oil the fish is fried in first | 5.5 g | 50 | 0 g |
What we could not match
Stand ins and assumptions in this recipe that a person still has to check.
- Fish pieces on the plate include bone; weights here are edible fish.
- Carp: Rohu and katla (Indian carps) as USDA carp. Check.
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).
Logging this at home? A photo estimate in the app starts from a dish like this, and you set the portion and the mustard oil in one tap. See what photo estimates miss.
Compare with other South Asian dishes
Photograph your own fish curry (macher jhol)
See calories and protein in seconds, as an honest range, with the mustard oil one tap away.