I want to show you one of the cheapest high-protein dinners you can make in India.

Two eggs, one bowl of moong dal, and a dollop of curd. Roughly 450 calories and 30 grams of protein — a real protein hit with no protein powder, for maybe ₹40 in normal household quantities. Fifteen minutes, start to finish.

This bowl sits where most fitness food fails: it uses ingredients you already have, it hits real protein without a “fitness ingredient” tax, and you make it fresh and eat it once — no sad meal-prep tub required.

Ingredients

  • Yellow moong dal (split) — 50 g dry, about ⅓ cup [P 12 C 30 F 1]
  • Water — 300 ml, to cook the dal
  • Turmeric — ¼ tsp
  • Ginger — 1 piece, small, crushed (optional)
  • Ghee or oil — 1 tsp (for the tadka) [P 0 C 0 F 5]
  • Cumin seeds — ½ tsp (for the tadka)
  • Mustard seeds — ¼ tsp (for the tadka)
  • Dried red chilli — 1, broken (for the tadka, optional)
  • Hing (asafoetida) — 1 pinch (for the tadka)
  • Curry leaves — 6, if available (for the tadka)
  • Eggs — 2 large, whole [P 13 C 1 F 11]
  • Oil — ½ tsp, to coat the pan (for the eggs) [P 0 C 0 F 2]
  • Plain curd / dahi — 100 g, to finish [P 5 C 5 F 3]
  • Fresh coriander — a handful, to garnish
  • Lemon — ¼, to finish
  • Salt — to taste

Method

  1. Rinse the dal. Rinse the moong dal in cold water 3–4 times until the water runs mostly clear.
  2. Cook the dal. Pressure cooker: dal + 300 ml water + turmeric + a little salt, 2 whistles on high, then natural release (about 8 minutes). Open pot: simmer 20–25 minutes with a little more water until soft and breaking apart.
  3. Check the consistency. Moong dal should pour like a thick soup — add a splash of hot water if too thick, or boil 2 minutes uncovered if too thin.
  4. Make the tadka. Heat the ghee in a small pan. Crackle the cumin (10 seconds), then the mustard seeds until they pop, then the red chilli, hing and curry leaves for 5 seconds — aromatic, not burnt.
  5. Pour the tadka into the dal and stir it through.
  6. Fry the eggs. In a non-stick pan with ½ tsp oil, cook the eggs to your liking — sunny-side-up (cover, 2 min), over-medium, or soft scrambled. Salt and pepper at the end, not the start.
  7. Assemble. Dal in a bowl, eggs on top, curd to one side. Garnish with coriander, green chilli if you like heat, and a squeeze of lemon.
  8. Eat immediately.

What to eat it with

It’s a complete meal on its own — dal, eggs, and curd cover protein, carbs, and fat in one bowl. If you trained that day and want more carbs, add 50 g of cooked rice on the side (about +110 calories).

Variations

  • Genuinely higher protein: use Greek yogurt instead of regular curd (roughly triple the protein per 100 g) and/or a third egg — that’s how you push this past 40g.
  • No eggs: swap in 100 g pan-fried paneer for a similar protein hit.
  • Lower calorie: use 1 egg instead of 2 — drops about 70 calories.
  • Post-workout: add 50 g cooked rice on the side (+110 cal).
  • Vegan: skip the eggs and curd; use 100 g pan-fried tofu and a plant yogurt.

Honest notes

  • Where the 30g comes from: ~12g from the moong dal, ~13g from two eggs, ~5g from the curd. Regular curd is modest protein; that’s the honest total, no rounding up.
  • Curd is the swing factor. Regular curd is ~3.5g protein per 100g; Greek yogurt hits 8–10g. If you want to push protein up, that’s the easiest lever.
  • Fibre: about 8g, almost all from the moong dal — a genuinely good chunk of the day’s fibre in one bowl.
  • This is your default tired-evening protein dinner — the meal you make when you don’t want to cook but still need to hit your number.