Dal chawal (plate)

One serving of Dal chawal (plate) — 1 katori dal + 1.5 katori rice + 1 tsp ghee — comes to 440 kcal, 12.4 g protein, 75.2 g carbs and 9.9 g fat. Scaled to 100 g it works out to 116 kcal and 3.3 g protein, which makes it not a meaningful protein source on its own for a restaurant plate item. That single serving is about 29.3% of a 1,500 kcal day and 22% of a 2,000 kcal day, so it's more of a filler than a target-hitter on protein without much extra planning.

Walking off Dal chawal (plate) takes roughly 11,000 steps, using the rough approximation of 0.04 kcal burned per step (a population-average estimate for a moderate walking pace, not a personalised number). At ₹60 a serving it costs about ₹96.8 for every 20 g of protein it delivers, which is a mid-to-high price for protein compared with dal, eggs or soya chunks. It fits nearly every Indian diet type, including vegetarian, Jain, eggetarian. It works at lunch and dinner. It's a daily staple in most Indian kitchens and one of the cheaper ways to hit a protein target and a common tiffin-box item.

If you want variety without changing the macros much, the closest swaps in the restaurant plate category are Tandoori roti, Jain thali (no onion/garlic/root veg), Butter naan, Chole chawal (plate) — each keeps a similar role on the plate while shifting the exact protein-to-carb balance a little.