KitchenKitchen measures and conversions
Teaspoons, tablespoons, cups and millilitres, grams and ounces, and the old Indian weights that still turn up in family recipes: pav, chhatank, tola and seer.
Volume: spoons, cups, ml
Weight: grams, ounces, pav, tola
Spoons, cups and millilitres
| Measure | Millilitres | Same as |
|---|---|---|
| 1 teaspoon (tsp) | 5 ml | |
| 1 tablespoon (tbsp) | 15 ml | 3 teaspoons |
| 1/4 cup | 60 ml | 4 tablespoons |
| 1/3 cup | 80 ml | 5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon |
| 1/2 cup | 120 ml | 8 tablespoons |
| 2/3 cup | 160 ml | 10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons |
| 3/4 cup | 180 ml | 12 tablespoons |
| 1 cup | 240 ml | 16 tablespoons |
| 1 US fluid ounce | 29.6 ml | 2 tablespoons |
| 1 US pint | 473 ml | 2 cups, a little less |
| 1 litre | 1000 ml | 4 cups + 2 1/2 tablespoons |
Cups are not the same everywhere
A recipe from the United States means a cup of about 240 ml. Australia, New Zealand and many newer recipe books use a metric cup of 250 ml. Older British recipes weigh almost everything instead. Keep to one set of cups and spoons through a recipe and the proportions stay right, whichever set it is.
Katori, glass and other home measures
Many Indian recipes are passed on in katoris and glasses. They work because the same vessel is used for every ingredient. If you want to follow such a recipe in another kitchen, find out the size once: fill the katori or glass with water and pour it into a measuring cup. Typical sizes are 120 to 180 ml for a katori and 200 to 250 ml for a steel glass.
Grams, ounces and pounds
- 1 ounce (oz) = 28.35 g
- 1 pound (lb) = 16 ounces = 453.6 g
- 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds
- 100 g = 3.5 ounces
Old Indian weights
Before the metric system, weights in India were counted in tolas and seers. The standard seer was fixed at 80 tolas, which is 0.9331 kg. Local seers differed from place to place, so an old family recipe may not match exactly.
| Unit | Metric weight | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tola | 11.66 g | Still used for gold and silver, where it is often rounded to 10 g in shops |
| Chhatank | 58.3 g | 5 tolas |
| Pav (pao) | 233 g by the old seer; 250 g in markets today | A quarter. Today "ek pav" means a quarter of a kilogram |
| Seer (ser) | 933 g | 80 tolas, 16 chhatanks |
| Maund (man) | 37.32 kg | 40 seers |
Questions people ask
How many teaspoons make a tablespoon?
Three. One tablespoon is 15 ml and one teaspoon is 5 ml. In Australia a tablespoon is 20 ml, so check where a recipe comes from.
How many ml is one cup?
A US cup used on food labels is 240 ml, and a metric cup is 250 ml. Most measuring cup sets sold in India are one of the two. The difference is small for dal or sabzi and worth noticing in baking.
How much is one katori?
A katori is not a fixed measure. Common steel katoris hold between 120 and 180 ml. Measure yours once with water and remember it.
How much is a pinch?
A pinch is what you can hold between thumb and one finger, roughly a sixteenth of a teaspoon. A dash is about an eighth.
More kitchen help
- Cups to gramsAtta, maida, sugar, rice, ghee and more, by ingredient.
- Oven temperaturesCelsius, Fahrenheit and gas mark, with fan oven settings.
- SubstitutesWhat to use when an ingredient is missing.
- Cooking timesPressure cooker minutes for dals, beans and rice.
- How much to cookRice, dal, atta and vegetables for any number of people.
- Food storageHow long food keeps in the fridge and the freezer.
- Spice namesJeera, ajwain, kalonji: English and Hindi names with uses.
- Dal and grain namesDals, flours and millets in English and Hindi.
- Vegetable namesTori, tinda, parwal: English and Hindi names with season.