Soyabean Bori Dalna
A Bengali home curry of soy chunks and potato in a mustard-oil, cumin-ginger gravy finished with garam masala — a weeknight staple in Kolkata kitchens.
- Region
- West Bengal
- Status
- Traditional
- Diet label
- Strictly vegetarian, egg-free
- Time
- Prep 10 min · Cook 25 min · Total 35 min
- Serves
- 3
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Good for
- Weeknight dinner, tiffin
- Tags
- High protein · Quick · Lower-fat · Whey-free · Meal-prep friendly
- Allergens
- Soy, milk (curd); gluten (rotis)
Nutrition (estimated)
- Calories
- 420 kcal
- Protein
- 23 g
- Carbs
- 64 g
- Fat
- 6 g
- Fibre
- 14 g
Headline values are for the full plate.
| kcal | Protein | Carbs | Fat | Sat fat | Fibre | Total sugars | Protein per 100 kcal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dalna only (about 250 g) | 195 | 15 g | 19 g | 5 g | 1 g | 6 g | 5 g | 8.0 g |
| Dinner plate: dalna, 2 whole-wheat rotis | 420 | 23 g | 64 g | 6 g | 1 g | 14 g | 7 g | 5.5 g |
High protein. Soy chunks use a typical label — verify against the brand used. Values checked against IFCT 2017 on 14 Oct 2026.
Ingredients
- 75 g soy chunks, dry · 150 g potato, in 3 cm cubes
- 80 g onion, puréed · 100 g tomato, puréed · 1 tbsp ginger paste · 1 tsp cumin paste (or cumin powder) · 50 g curd
- 12 g mustard oil · 1 bay leaf · 1 tsp cumin seeds · 2 dry red chillies · ½ tsp turmeric · 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder · ½ tsp garam masala · 2 g sugar · 5 g salt
- Plate: 210 g whole-wheat atta for 6 rotis
Method
- Boil soy chunks in 1 litre water for 5 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water and squeeze dry.
- Rub chunks with a pinch of turmeric and salt. Heat mustard oil until it just smokes, lower the heat, and fry chunks 3 minutes until lightly browned. Remove; fry potatoes 5 minutes.
- Add bay leaf, cumin seeds and red chillies, then onion purée; cook 5 minutes.
- Add ginger and cumin pastes, tomato purée, turmeric and chilli powder; cook 4 minutes until oil separates.
- Lower the heat and stir in whisked curd. Add chunks, potato, sugar, salt and 300 ml water.
- Cover and simmer 10 minutes until the potato is tender. Finish with garam masala. Serve with rotis.
Protein optimisation
- Soy chunks supply 13 g per serving; potato, curd and vegetables 2 g; rotis 8 g on the plate.
- Boost: add 80 g green peas with the potatoes (+2 g protein, +25 kcal per serving).
Variations, serving and storage
- Regional: soyabean kosha — cooked down until dry and dark, with more onion.
- Substitution: 150 g paneer for the soy chunks (soy-free; about 4 g less protein and 10 g more fat per serving).
- Storage: 3 days refrigerated.
- Food safety: reheat until steaming throughout.
- Meal prep: excellent.
Nutrition values are estimates calculated from the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 (ICMR-NIN) and typical product labels. They have not been laboratory-analysed and will vary with your ingredients, brands and cooking. Recipes are for healthy adults and are general information only, not a substitute for advice from a doctor or qualified dietitian. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, cooking for children, have food allergies, or live with kidney disease, diabetes or any other medical condition, please take professional advice about your diet. From the collection Protein-Rich India by Dr. Shantanu Deshpande · drshantanudeshpande.com