Vegetables & Sides

How Many Calories in Sayur Manis (Cangkuk Manis / Sabah Veg)?

Sabah famous sweet-leaf vegetable, stir-fried with egg at the hawker stall, one of the cheapest and most genuinely low-calorie sides you can order if you watch the oil.

185kcal / 1 plate (goreng telur, stir-fried with egg)
A plate of sayur manis goreng telur comes in at around 185 calories for a 150g hawker serving. That number sounds almost too good to be true for a stir-fry, and honestly it kind of is, because the veg itself is only about 40 calories. The egg adds roughly 65 kcal and the cooking oil contributes around 75 kcal for a standard tablespoon. If you order it without egg (just garlic or dried shrimp), you're looking at closer to 120 calories per plate. This is a ballpark estimate because hard nutritional data for sayur manis specifically is thin, but the numbers are grounded in the known calorie values of each component.

Nutrition facts

Per 1 plate (goreng telur, stir-fried with egg) (150g)AmountPer 100g
Calories185 kcal123 kcal
Protein9 g6 g
Carbs8 g5 g
Fat13 g9 g

Where the calories come from

Sayur manis leaves (cooked, ~180g raw)90g
40 kcal
Cooking oil (hawker portion ~1 tbsp)9g
75 kcal
Egg (1 medium)50g
65 kcal
Garlic, shallots, dried shrimp, seasoning15g
10 kcal

The real talk

Sayur manis, or cangkuk manis, is a leafy green vegetable (Sauropus androgynus) that is pretty much Sabah's signature veg. If you grew up outside Borneo you might not have seen it before, but walk into any Sabah hawker centre and it's on every single table. The leaves are tender, slightly sweet, and cook down fast. Calorie-wise it is genuinely one of the best things you can eat at a hawker stall. The veg itself clocks in at around 40 kcal per plate. The goreng telur version sits at about 185 kcal total, which is really not bad at all for a cooked side dish. Where things go sideways is the oil, which at about 1 to 1.5 tablespoons contributes roughly 75 to 120 kcal on its own. So yeah, technically this is an oily dish that happens to contain a very low-calorie vegetable. Keep that in mind. These numbers are an honest estimate, not lab-verified figures, because published data on sayur manis is scarce, so treat the 185 as a solid ballpark rather than gospel.

The thing that actually changes the maths here is how much oil the uncle uses. A generous wok toss at a hawker stall can easily push past 1.5 tablespoons of oil, which adds another 30 to 45 kcal on top of what is already counted here. At home you can do this with half the oil and barely notice the difference in taste. The egg is optional but adds a proper 65 kcal and 6g of protein, which honestly makes the dish more worth it as a meal component. The no-egg version at around 120 calories is basically free food in calorie terms. If you see a masak lemak version on the menu, that coconut milk base will push it up to around 260 calories, still not terrible but a different animal from the simple stir-fry. Order the plain garlic or dried shrimp version when you're cutting, add the egg when you want more staying power.

Sayur Manis (Cangkuk Manis / Sabah Veg) variants, ranked by calories

VariantCaloriesNotes
Goreng bawang / tumis udang kering (garlic or dried shrimp, no egg)120 kcalVery low calorie; oil is the main contributor; veg itself is under 40 kcal
Goreng telur (stir-fried with egg)185 kcalOne egg adds ~65 kcal; typical hawker serving with standard oil amount
Masak lemak (cooked in coconut milk)260 kcalCoconut milk adds significant fat and calories; less common but found in Sabah home cooking

How to eat it lighter

Common questions

How many calories in Sayur Manis (Cangkuk Manis / Sabah Veg)?
A standard hawker plate of sayur manis goreng telur (stir-fried with egg) is around 185 calories per 150g serving. The no-egg version with just garlic or dried shrimp is closer to 120 calories. These are estimates as hard published data for this specific vegetable is limited.
What exactly is sayur manis and is it healthy?
Sayur manis, also called cangkuk manis or Sabah veg, is a leafy green vegetable (Sauropus androgynus) widely eaten in Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei. The leaves are soft, mildly sweet, and cook very quickly. The vegetable itself is genuinely low in calories at roughly 40 kcal per cooked plate. It is also a decent source of protein for a leaf vegetable. The main calorie driver when you order it at a stall is the cooking oil, not the veg.
How does sayur manis compare to kangkung belacan calorie-wise?
Sayur manis goreng telur at around 185 calories is fairly similar to kangkung belacan in the same weight range. Both are leafy stir-fries where the oil does most of the calorie work. If you order both without extra protein additions, the calorie difference is modest. Sayur manis without egg at 120 calories is one of the lighter veg options you can order at a hawker stall.

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See all Vegetables & Sides calories, ranked →

Calorie and macro figures are estimates for a typical hawker or kopitiam serving. Actual numbers vary by stall, recipe and portion size. Use them as a guide, not gospel.

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