Calories and protein in a plate of poha, with and without oil

Also called kanda poha, aval, chira.

The short answer

1 plate, about 160 g, normal oil

300 kcal

6 g protein

Fat 9 g · carbs 49 g · fibre 2 g · Vegan

Portion: a breakfast plate. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central

The peanuts are small but count: 8 g of peanuts adds about as much as a teaspoon of oil.

With and without oil

The same 1 plate, changing only the tempering. Normal is about 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.

Calories and protein in a plate of poha at each oil level
OilAddedCaloriesProtein
None0 g260 kcal
6.5 g
A little2.5 g280 kcal
6 g
Normal5 g300 kcal
6 g
A lot9.5 g330 kcal
6 g

What moves the number

  1. Pohaabout 180 kcal
  2. Oil (the tempering)about 45 kcal
  3. Peanutsabout 40 kcal

The recipe behind these numbers

Raw ingredient weights in one 1 plate, scaled from the batch recipe in the Homekcal app’s dish table, with normal 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.

Ingredients in one portion of Poha, with their USDA source
IngredientWeightCaloriesProtein
PohaUSDA: Rice, white, long-grain, regular, raw, enriched50 g1803.5 g
WaterUSDA: Beverages, water, tap, drinking53 g00 g
OnionUSDA: Onions, raw20 g100 g
PotatoUSDA: Potatoes, flesh and skin, raw20 g150.5 g
PeanutsUSDA: Peanuts, all types, raw6.5 g401.5 g
Mustard seedsUSDA: Spices, mustard seed, ground0.5 g50 g
TurmericUSDA: Spices, turmeric, ground0.5 g00 g
Green chilliUSDA: Peppers, hot chili, green, raw1.5 g00 g
Lemon juiceUSDA: Lemon juice, raw3.5 g00 g
SugarUSDA: Sugars, granulated1.5 g50 g
Coriander leavesUSDA: Coriander (cilantro) leaves, raw1.5 g00 g
SaltUSDA: Salt, table1.5 g00 g
OilUSDA: Oil, canolaThe tempering5 g450 g

What we could not match

Stand ins and assumptions in this recipe that a person still has to check.

  • Poha: No USDA entry for flattened rice (poha); raw white rice used as a proxy. 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 oil in one tap. See what photo estimates miss.

Photograph your own poha

See calories and protein in seconds, as an honest range, with the oil one tap away.