Hitting 180g protein/day on a mostly vegetarian Indian diet — the staples that actually carry the weight (and the ones that don't)

I'm Indian-American and spent years assuming I'd have to give up half my food culture to hit my protein numbers. Turns out I was just eating the wrong staples in the wrong ratios. Sharing the breakdown because the "how do I get protein on an Indian/veg diet" question comes up everywhere and the typical answer ("dal! milk!") is mediocre once you look at the actual grams.

The big lie: dal is high protein

Cooked toor or moong dal is ~7–9g protein per 100g. A normal bowl is ~150g. That's 10–13g for what feels like a main protein dish. Two eggs is 12g and takes 4 minutes.

Dal is fine. It's just not the hero people treat it as.

Staples that actually carry the load (per 100g)

• Soya chunks (TVP), dry: ~52g protein. The single most underrated food in Indian cuisine. Rehydrate, drop into any curry. 50g dry = 26g protein for ~30 cents.
• Paneer: ~18g protein (also ~20g fat — great, but not unlimited).
• Hung curd / Greek yogurt: ~10g. Drain regular dahi in cheesecloth for 2 hours and the protein density basically doubles.
• Chana (chickpeas), cooked: ~19g. Chole or roasted chana — solid.
• Eggs: 6g each. 4-egg bhurji with onions = 24g in 5 minutes.
• Tofu: ~8g. Direct paneer swap if you want to cut fat.
• Rajma, cooked: ~9g. Decent, not amazing.

A day that hits ~180g without trying hard

• Breakfast: 4-egg bhurji + 2 rotis + Greek yogurt → ~35g
• Lunch: 150g rehydrated soya chunks in tomato gravy + rice + dal → ~45g
• Snack: Hung curd with sprouts + roasted chana → ~25g
• Dinner: Grilled paneer or chicken tikka + cucumber salad + 2 rotis → ~50g
• Pre-bed: Glass of milk or small paneer bhurji → ~25g

~180g without protein powder. Add a scoop of whey and it's effortless.

Swaps that 2–3x your protein without changing the cuisine

• Cream in gravies → blended hung curd or cashew-yogurt mix
• Plain rice → rice with soya chunks mixed in
• Butter paratha → paneer-stuffed paratha
• Plain dahi → hung curd
• Regular dosa → moong dal cheela
• Aloo sabzi → soya keema sabzi

The mistake most people make

Eating the right foods in wrong proportions. The "protein plate" in most Indian households is 2–3 rotis + small dal + sabzi. That's ~15g protein and ~80g carbs. Flipping the ratio — more paneer/soya, fewer rotis — basically solves the whole problem.

Happy to answer specific macro questions if anyone's stuck. The cuisine is genuinely high-protein-friendly once you stop treating dal as the main event.