Kala chana curry

One serving of Kala chana curry — 1 katori (40 g raw) — comes to 156 kcal, 7.5 g protein, 15.8 g carbs and 7 g fat. Scaled to 100 g it works out to 104 kcal and 5 g protein, which makes it not a meaningful protein source on its own for a dal & legume item. That single serving is about 10.4% of a 1,500 kcal day and 7.8% 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 Kala chana curry takes roughly 3,900 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 ₹8 a serving it costs about ₹21.3 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, vegan, eggetarian. It works at lunch and dinner. It's one of the cheaper ways to hit a protein target and commonly eaten on fasting days (Navratri/Ekadashi-style).

If you want variety without changing the macros much, the closest swaps in the dal & legume category are Besan chilla, Chana sundal (South Indian chickpea stir-fry), Chole / chana masala, Chana dal — each keeps a similar role on the plate while shifting the exact protein-to-carb balance a little.