Sambar Rice Calories: Home-Style vs Restaurant

By NYUS Inc. · Published 30 October 2026

"Sambar rice calories", with "sambar sadam", "1 plate", "per 100g" and "protein", is searched in India, and the answers online differ. No primary table has a sambar rice record: IFCT 2017, the Indian Food Composition Tables from ICMR-NIN, prints raw foods (its few cooked rows are boiled and omelette eggs and roasted vermicelli) and no sambar, sambar rice or other cooked rice and dal dish, no cooking oil row, and no ghee energy row (ghee appears only in Table 12, the fatty acid profile of edible oils and fats, PDF pp. 474 and 475, which prints no energy), and USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy has no sambar rice record. So this page does not quote a number. It works one plate out line by line: the raw rice, toor dal, vegetables, tamarind and tempering spices from named IFCT 2017 rows and the oil and ghee from USDA records, with weights that are our assumptions and the fat shown apart so you can see what it adds, once as a home-style plate and once as a restaurant-style plate with more sambar and ghee. The sambar is the one of our sambar and rasam guide, counted in katori. They are estimates, shown so you can change the weights to match your pot. For another South Indian rice and dal dish see our pongal guide, for plain cooked rice per cup our cooked rice guide, and for the spoon values our ghee, oil and sugar guide.

The short answer

By our working, one home-style sambar rice plate (60 g raw rice, the ingredients of 2 katori of sambar (50 g toor dal and the vegetables, tamarind and tempering spices of our sambar guide), 1 teaspoon of oil and 5 g of ghee) is about 536.7 kcal and 18.8 g protein, and one restaurant-style plate (80 g raw rice, the ingredients of 3 katori of sambar (75 g toor dal and the same vegetables, tamarind and spices), 2 teaspoons of oil and 10 g of ghee) is about 811.8 kcal and 27.4 g protein. Across 40 to 80 g of raw rice the home-style runs 420.4 to 653.0 kcal with 0 to 10 g of ghee, and across 60 to 100 g the restaurant-style 695.5 to 928.1 kcal with 5 to 15 g, with the sambar and the tempering oil in every cell. These are estimates from the weights below, not measured values, not from a sambar rice record and not a restaurant figure. Our reading: the parts of the home-style main case rank the rice 213.8 kcal, the toor dal 165.4 kcal, the vegetables, tamarind and tempering spices 72.7 kcal, the ghee 45.0 kcal, the oil 39.8 kcal; the parts of the restaurant-style main case rank the rice 285.1 kcal, the toor dal 248.1 kcal, the vegetables, tamarind and tempering spices 109.0 kcal, the ghee 90.0 kcal, the oil 79.6 kcal; and the restaurant-style plate is 275.1 kcal above the home-style one.

IFCT 2017 rows used, per 100 g

IFCT 2017 Table 1 prints, per 100 g edible portion, water, protein, ash, total fat, total dietary fibre, insoluble and soluble fibre, carbohydrate and energy in kJ. We read these 12 rows from the PDF text on 30 October 2026, as the mean of the regions shown (PDF pages in the Sources); the kcal is ours (kJ divided by 4.184, to 0.1). IFCT prints no portion weights; the rice and dal rows are raw, so we count raw weight, and the water they take up and the cooked weight of a sambar rice are not printed in any table. B021 is red gram (toor) dal; ten of the twelve rows are the ones of our sambar and rasam guide.

The oil and the ghee: USDA SR Legacy, per 100 g

IFCT 2017 Table 1 has no cooking oil row and no ghee energy row (ghee appears only in its Table 12 of fatty acid percentages, which prints no energy), so these come from USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy; they are US records. Energy is USDA's kcal with the kJ beside it; water, protein, total fat and carbohydrate (by difference) are in g, then fibre (g), total sugars (g) and sodium (mg), all per 100 g.

The data-type label on each USDA field, as the records show it

USDA's record page shows a data-type label beside some fields and none beside others. This table copies what each record shows, read field by field from the nutrient table of the record page; "no label shown" means the record prints no label there, and "not printed" means the record has no row for that field. We do not interpret the labels beyond printing them. IFCT 2017 prints no such labels.

The household portions USDA prints for the oil and the ghee

These are the entries in each record's Measures list, as printed; the other entry is 100 g. The oil record prints a teaspoon, a tablespoon and a cup; the ghee record prints only 100 g, so this page counts ghee in grams, and the gram weights used for the plate are our assumptions, not USDA's. The kcal in the last column is ours: the printed kcal per 100 g times the grams, divided by 100, shown to 0.1.

The portion sums: 171410 1 tsp (4.5 g): 884 × 4.5 / 100 = 39.78, so 39.8 kcal; 171410 1 cup (216 g): 884 × 216 / 100 = 1909.44, so 1909.4 kcal; 171410 1 tbsp (13.5 g): 884 × 13.5 / 100 = 119.34, so 119.3 kcal. By the same arithmetic 1 teaspoon of oil (4.5 g) is 39.8 kcal and 2 teaspoons 79.6 kcal, and 5 g of ghee is 45.0 kcal, 10 g 90.0 kcal and 15 g 135.0 kcal.

Worked example 1: home-style sambar rice

Every weight here is our assumption for one plate, counted raw: rice, and the ingredients of 2 katori of sambar (the per-katori weights of our sambar and rasam guide times 2, so 50 g of dry toor dal), with the tempering oil and ghee on top. One katori of those ingredients is 119.0 kcal, the figure of that guide. Two katori of the ingredients come to 238.1 kcal and three to 357.1 kcal, which is 0.1 kcal more than two times and 0.1 kcal more than three times the 119.0 kcal of one katori: every line is rounded to 0.1 kcal at its own weight, so a doubled or tripled line does not round to exactly double or triple the one-katori line. Each IFCT line is the kJ divided by 4.184, times the grams, divided by 100, to 0.1 kcal; each USDA line is the printed kcal per 100 g times the grams, divided by 100; protein is the table's protein per 100 g times the grams, divided by 100. Salt, sambar powder blends beyond the listed spices, coconut and jaggery are not counted.

The grid varies the raw rice (40, 60, 80 g) and the ghee (0, 5, 10 g); the 2 katori of sambar ingredients and the 1 teaspoon of tempering oil stay as above.

Worked example 2: restaurant-style sambar rice

Same method; more rice (80 g), 3 katori of the sambar ingredients (75 g of dry toor dal), 2 teaspoons of tempering oil and 10 g of ghee. This is our assumed recipe for a restaurant-style plate, not a measured hotel or restaurant plate.

The grid varies the raw rice (60, 80, 100 g) and the ghee (5, 10, 15 g); the 3 katori of sambar ingredients and the 2 teaspoons of tempering oil stay as above.

The two main cases side by side

These are the single examples used in the short answer; each follows from the tables above and from the weights in the cell.

What stands out in the numbers

• Home-style, part by part: the rice 213.8 kcal, the toor dal 165.4 kcal, the vegetables, tamarind and tempering spices 72.7 kcal, the ghee 45.0 kcal, the oil 39.8 kcal. Raw milled rice is 356.4 kcal per 100 g (IFCT A015) and raw red gram dal 330.8 kcal (B021).
• Restaurant-style, part by part: the rice 285.1 kcal, the toor dal 248.1 kcal, the vegetables, tamarind and tempering spices 109.0 kcal, the ghee 90.0 kcal, the oil 79.6 kcal; against the home-style plate the extra rice adds 71.3 kcal, the extra katori of sambar ingredients 119.0 kcal, the extra teaspoon of oil 39.8 kcal and the extra 5 g of ghee 45.0 kcal.
• Rice weight against ghee: in the home-style version the rice weight (40 to 80 g) moves it more than the ghee (0 to 10 g): 142.6 kcal against 90.0 kcal; in the restaurant-style version the rice weight (60 to 100 g) moves it more than the ghee (5 to 15 g): 142.6 kcal against 90.0 kcal. Each 5 g of ghee is 45.0 kcal.
• Protein: about 18.8 g in the home-style main case and 27.4 g in the restaurant-style one; the rice and the toor dal supply most of it.
• These are estimates: no sambar rice record exists, the weights are ours, and more ghee, coconut, papad or a bigger plate will change them.

Why these are estimates, not your sambar rice

• No record exists for the dish. IFCT 2017 prints raw foods and no cooked dish, and USDA SR Legacy has no sambar rice record.
• The weights are assumptions. No table prints how much rice, dal, vegetables or fat one plate takes; ours are stated so you can replace them.
• Raw weights. Rice and dal take up a lot of water in cooking and no table prints the cooked weight, so the page counts raw weight and cannot give a per 100 g or per cup figure.
• One sambar. The vegetables, tamarind and spices are those of our sambar guide; a sambar with other vegetables or a spice powder blend will differ.
• Ghee by the gram. The ghee record prints no teaspoon, so the page counts ghee in grams.
• No restaurant figure. The restaurant-style plate is a recipe we assumed, not a measured hotel or restaurant plate; no table prints a restaurant weight or fat use.
• US data. The oil and ghee rows are US records; IFCT Table 1 has neither as an energy row.
• Labels are printed, not judged. Calculated, Label claim and the other labels are USDA's words on the records; we print them and draw no conclusion from them.

How to log it so the numbers hold

• Log it by parts. Weigh the rice and the dal raw before cooking, estimate the vegetables, and log the oil and the ghee by their own weight (weight × figure ÷ 100); our ghee, oil and sugar guide has the spoon values.
• Say how much sambar. The number of katori of sambar ingredients is an input this page cannot know; one katori of them is 119.0 kcal.
• Say how much fat. A teaspoon of oil is 39.8 kcal and 5 g of ghee 45.0 kcal.
• Log the papad or poriyal separately. They are not in these figures.

Where NYUS fits (our app)

We make NYUS, so read this as ours. NYUS is an AI fitness and nutrition coach in early access on Android, with no ads and no data selling. You log foods yourself by searching 8,900+ Indian and global foods or by barcode, and a weekly check-in adjusts your calories, macros and step goal once enough is logged. Barcode coverage of Indian packaged foods is not complete, so search by name when a scan finds nothing.

What this page leaves out

• A measured calorie figure for sambar rice as a dish: no primary record prints one, so every figure here is an estimate from stated weights.
• A calorie target, and any claim about what rice, dal or ghee do to your body: we have not looked up any for any person, so we give none. If you have a medical condition or are pregnant, ask your doctor or dietitian.
• Coconut, jaggery, papad, a poriyal or kootu, curd, pickle, fried boondi, salt and spice powder blends, and other versions such as bisi bele bath, curd rice or a sambar with other vegetables: not covered here; log them from their own rows (our sambar and rasam guide works the sambar out).
• Hotel, canteen and packaged sambar rice: no table prints a restaurant weight or fat use, so we give no such figure; read the pack for packaged ones.
• Per 100 g and per cup figures: no table prints a cooked weight, so none is given here.
• Nutrients beyond energy, water, protein, fat, carbohydrate, fibre, total sugars and sodium: not covered here.

Sources

• ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (IFCT 2017), Table 1, per 100 g edible portion, mean of the regions shown (read from the PDF text 30 October 2026): A015 Rice, raw, milled (6 regions, 1491 kJ, PDF p. 41); B021 Red gram, dal (6 regions, 1384 kJ, PDF p. 43); D046 Drumstick (6 regions, 123 kJ, PDF p. 47); D031 Brinjal - all varieties (6 regions, 106 kJ, PDF p. 46); G018 Onion, small (5 regions, 237 kJ, PDF p. 54); D075 Tomato, ripe, hybrid (6 regions, 79 kJ, PDF p. 48); E064 Tamarind, pulp (6 regions, 1207 kJ, PDF p. 52); H013 Mustard seeds (6 regions, 2132 kJ, PDF p. 55); G026 Fenugreek seeds (6 regions, 983 kJ, PDF p. 54); G022 Chillies, red (6 regions, 990 kJ, PDF p. 54); G010 Curry leaves (6 regions, 266 kJ, PDF p. 54); G009 Coriander leaves (6 regions, 130 kJ, PDF p. 53). IFCT 2017 prints raw foods (its few cooked rows are boiled and omelette eggs and roasted vermicelli) and no sambar, sambar rice or other cooked rice and dal dish, no cooking oil row, and no ghee energy row (ghee appears only in Table 12, the fatty acid profile of edible oils and fats, PDF pp. 474 and 475, which prints no energy) (PDF text searched for sambar, sambar rice, bisi bele, rice and dal, oil and ghee; the rice row is A015 and the red gram (toor) dal row is B021, with the other ten rows those of the sambar and rasam guide).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 171410 (Oil, peanut, salad or cooking): Energy 884 kcal (3700 kJ), protein 0 g, total fat 100 g, carbohydrate by difference 0 g, fibre 0 g, total sugars 0 g, sodium 0 mg per 100 g; labels as printed: kcal Calculated, carbohydrate by difference no label shown, total sugars Assumed zero (Insignificant amount or not naturally occurring in a food, such as fiber in meat); portions used: 1 tsp (4.5 g); 1 cup (216 g); 1 tbsp (13.5 g) (read 30 October 2026).
• USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 171314 (Butter, clarified butter (ghee)): Energy 900 kcal (3770 kJ), protein 0 g, total fat 100 g, carbohydrate by difference 0 g, fibre 0 g, total sugars 0 g, sodium 0 mg per 100 g; labels as printed: kcal Label claim (back calculated from label by NDL staff; Calculated from label claim/serving (g or %RDI), carbohydrate by difference Label claim (back calculated from label by NDL staff; Calculated from label claim/serving (g or %RDI), total sugars Label claim (back calculated from label by NDL staff; Calculated from label claim/serving (g or %RDI), fibre Label claim (back calculated from label by NDL staff; Calculated from label claim/serving (g or %RDI), kJ Label claim (back calculated from label by NDL staff; Calculated from label claim/serving (g or %RDI), water Taken from another source--other tables of food composition, protein Label claim (back calculated from label by NDL staff; Calculated from label claim/serving (g or %RDI), fat Label claim (back calculated from label by NDL staff; Calculated from label claim/serving (g or %RDI), sodium Label claim (back calculated from label by NDL staff; Calculated from label claim/serving (g or %RDI); portions used: none (only per 100 g listed) (read 30 October 2026).
• nyus.in, the NYUS landing page, read on 30 October 2026 for the app statements in the NYUS section and the CTA.

The ingredient weights, the kJ to kcal conversions, the line values, the sums, the grids, the portion kcal, the rounding, the comparisons and every sentence starting "Our reading" are NYUS's own assumptions, arithmetic or opinion, not from USDA or IFCT. The IFCT values are the means printed in IFCT 2017 Table 1; the USDA values, data-type labels and Measures-list portions are exactly as shown on the USDA record pages. The names in the first column are the tables' own names.

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