How many grams is 1 katori?

One katori is not a fixed unit. A small katori holds about 100 ml and 80 to 110 g of a cooked dish, a medium katori holds about 150 ml and 120 to 160 g, and a large katori holds about 200 ml and 170 to 210 g. Most Indian homes use the small or medium size for dal and sabzi. When a calorie chart says one katori, assume 150 g unless it states otherwise.

How many calories are in 1 katori of rice?

One katori of cooked white rice at 150 g contains about 195 calories, 4 g protein, 43 g carbohydrate and almost no fat. That comes from roughly 50 g of raw rice, because rice roughly triples in weight when cooked. Brown rice at the same 150 g is about 186 calories with 2.7 g fibre instead of 0.6 g.

How many calories are in 1 katori of dal?

One katori of home-style toor dal at 150 g contains about 140 calories and 8 g protein. Moong dal is slightly lower at 132 calories, chana dal higher at 165. Dal makhani is the outlier at about 285 calories per katori because of the cream and butter. Restaurant dal generally runs 40 to 70 calories above home dal for the same volume, entirely from extra oil or ghee in the tadka.

How many calories are in 1 katori of sabzi?

A katori of mixed vegetable sabzi at 150 g is about 125 calories, assuming roughly one and a half teaspoons of oil. The vegetable itself contributes very little. Oil drives the number, so the same sabzi can range from 85 calories (lauki, cooked lightly) to 165 (aloo) to over 200 if it is restaurant style. Bhindi absorbs oil faster than almost any other vegetable.

Why do Indian calorie charts use katori instead of grams?

Because almost no Indian kitchen weighs cooked food. Household measures like katori, roti, glass and serving spoon are how meals are actually portioned, so charts built around them get followed and charts built around grams get abandoned. The tradeoff is precision: katori size varies between homes, which is why this calculator shows you the gram weight behind every katori so you can check yours once against a kitchen scale.

Should I weigh my food raw or cooked?

Pick one and stay consistent. This calculator uses cooked weights because that is what is on your plate. Raw weighing is more accurate for grains and dals, since water absorption varies, but it is impractical for shared family cooking. If you weigh raw, remember rice roughly triples and dal roughly doubles in cooked weight.

Free Tool · Indian Household Measures

Katori Portion Calculator

One katori is not a fixed measure. Small holds about 100 ml, medium 150 ml, large 200 ml. That gap is worth roughly 100 calories of dal, which is why two people eating "one katori" can be eating very different meals.

Quick answer

A standard medium katori holds 150 g of a cooked dish. At that size: rice is about 195 kcal, toor dal about 140 kcal with 8 g protein, and mixed sabzi about 125 kcal. One wheat roti is about 40 g and 120 kcal.

The variable that actually moves these numbers is not the katori, it is the oil. A sabzi cooked with one teaspoon versus three teaspoons of oil differs by 90 calories for the identical vegetable.

Step 1 · Find your food

Step 2 · How many?

Your portion

Dal (toor / arhar)

Base unit: 1 katori (150 g)

150 g

Cooked weight

140 kcal

Calories

Protein

20g

Carbs

2.8g

Fat

4.5g

Fibre

Standard home dal with a light tadka. Restaurant dal runs 40 to 70 kcal higher.

Get a meal plan built on these portions

What one katori actually holds

Katori is not a standard unit. Three sizes are in common use, and the gap between the small and large one is roughly 100 calories of dal.

1 katori (small)

The everyday steel katori in most Indian homes. Holds roughly 100 ml.

80 to 110 g

1 katori (medium)

The size most restaurants and canteens serve dal and sabzi in.

120 to 160 g

1 katori (large)

Common for curd, kheer and one-pot meals like khichdi.

170 to 210 g

1 serving spoon (karchi)

One ladle of dal or sabzi. Roughly half a small katori.

40 to 50 g

1 tablespoon

Oil, ghee, curd, chutney. The single most under-counted measure.

12 to 18 g

1 teaspoon

Sugar, oil, ghee. Five teaspoons of oil is about 200 calories.

4 to 6 g

1 glass

Milk, buttermilk, juice. Indian tumblers run 200 to 250 ml.

240 to 260 g

1 roti / chapati

Made from about 30 g atta. Restaurant rotis run larger, 50 to 60 g.

35 to 45 g

Steel katoris of different sizes filled with dal, rice and sabzi on an Indian thali — Small, medium and large katori side by side. The same "one katori of dal" ranges from 105 to 195 calories depending on which one is on your table.

Why Indian Portion Tracking Fails

Most calorie apps were built around Western portions: cups, ounces, single plated servings. Indian meals are shared, ladled, and eaten in rounds. You do not eat "a serving of dal," you eat however many karchis land on your plate over the course of a meal.

That structural mismatch causes three specific errors that show up constantly in client food logs:

Katori inflation. People log "one katori" while actually eating from a large 200 ml katori. Repeated across dal, sabzi and curd, that is 150 to 200 uncounted calories per meal.
Invisible oil. The vegetable in a sabzi is 30 to 40 calories. The oil is 90 to 180. Almost nobody logs the cooking medium, which is the single biggest source of tracking error in Indian kitchens.
Second-round rotis. The first two rotis get logged. The third and fourth, served hot off the tawa mid-meal, usually do not.

The fix is not more precision, it is calibration. Weigh your own katori once with a kitchen scale, note whether it is 100, 150 or 200 g, then use household measures forever after. One measurement session buys you accurate tracking for years.

The Conversions Worth Memorising

If you remember nothing else from this page, these five hold for almost every Indian kitchen:

Rice triples. 50 g raw becomes about 150 g cooked, which is one medium katori and about 195 calories.
Dal roughly doubles. 30 g raw dal becomes a 150 g katori of cooked dal at about 140 calories.
One roti is 30 g atta. That is a 40 g finished roti and about 120 calories, before any ghee.
One teaspoon of any oil or ghee is 45 calories. No exceptions, coconut and olive included.
One glass is 250 ml. Toned milk in that glass is about 145 calories and 8 g protein.

Kitchen scale weighing cooked rice next to a steel katori for portion calibration — Calibrate once: weigh your own katori filled with cooked rice, note the number, then track by katori from then on.

Where This Tool Fits

This calculator answers "what is on my plate right now." Two other questions usually follow. If you want the full macro breakdown across a wider food list, use the Indian food calorie calculator. If you want to know how many calories you should be eating in the first place, start with the TDEE calculator and then set protein with the protein calculator.

For the reasoning behind the numbers in this database, including how cooking method changes them, read Indian portion sizes explained and the 60-dish calorie and macro chart.

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