Penjaram (also spelled pinjaram or penyaram depending on who you ask) is a Sabah and Sarawak thing that a lot of peninsular Malaysians have never actually tried. Think of it like a fried fritter shaped like a UFO or a little hat, with a thick chewy middle and a thin lacy edge that goes properly crispy from the fryer. The batter is rice flour, plain flour, and gula apong, which is Bornean palm sugar with a deep caramel, almost smoky sweetness. It is genuinely good. At 210 calories per medium piece, it is not a disaster either, but those calories are basically all carbs and frying oil. The palm sugar alone contributes about 84 calories, and the oil absorbed during frying adds another 43. There is almost no protein here, which is why penjaram is a snack, not a meal. To be straight with you: these numbers are estimates. Hard data on penjaram calories is thin, so treat 210 as a reasonable ballpark rather than a lab-tested figure.
The maths changes quite a bit depending on where you buy it and what size you grab. The small ones sold three for RM1 at Sabah tamu are only around 130 calories each because they are roughly 30g finished weight, less batter, less oil. The big ones at places like Donggongon tamu can hit 290 calories at around 70g. If you are calorie counting, the size difference matters more than anything else here. The other variable is how much oil the individual fritter absorbs during frying, which depends on oil temperature and how long it sits in the wok. A hotter, faster fry absorbs less oil. You cannot really control that at a market stall, but knowing it helps you understand why two penjaram from different stalls can taste and feel quite different. If you want to enjoy a couple pieces at the tamu without it wrecking your day, just know two medium ones is about 420 calories lah, so factor that in before adding nasi lemak on top.