Dal is not a protein source.

Fifteen vegetarian foods Indians eat every day, measured three ways: how many calories you pay per gram of protein, how many rupees, and how much your body actually absorbs.

Based on the Food Pharmer × Trustified ranking

Three katoris of dal with rice gets you nine grams.

30g dry dal + 30g rice, cooked

9g protein · 40g+ carbohydrate. Enough dal for three bowls, and it still isn't a protein meal.

ProteinCarbohydrateFat

The one rule worth remembering

Every meal needs at least one primary protein source: at least 18–20g of protein per 100g, a complete amino acid profile, and good absorption.

Everything else — dal, besan, chana, peas — is a secondary source. Keep eating them for fibre, vitamins and minerals. Just stop counting on them to close your protein gap.

Why grams per 100g is the wrong number

Peanuts have 25g of protein per 100g. High-protein paneer has 26g. But peanuts cost you 25 calories for every gram of protein where paneer costs 6, and your body absorbs roughly half the peanut protein. Plot all three criteria and the ranking explains itself.

Absorbs well (PDCAAS 0.90+)Moderate (0.65–0.89)Poor (below 0.65)

Prices are estimates — set your own and everything recalculates

OatsPeanutsGreen peasRajmaBesan chillaBhuna chanaSproutsDalSattuEdamameTempehGreek yogurtTofuPaneerSoya chunks

Enter what you actually pay per kilo in your city. The chart and the table both update.

The fifteen, with the numbers behind the verdict

1
Oatsper 100g, dry
12gprotein / 100g
32.6calories per gram
₹1.67cost per gram
0.57absorption
Secondary sourceIncomplete
Nobody is telling you to stop eating oats. Eat them for fibre. Just don't file them under protein.
Seventy percent of oats is carbohydrate, twelve percent is protein — the worst calorie cost of anything on this list.
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2
Peanutsper 100g, raw
25gprotein / 100g
24.6calories per gram
₹0.56cost per gram
0.52absorption
Secondary sourceIncomplete
The protein number looks respectable — 25g, near enough the same as paneer — until you see what it's attached to. Half of a peanut is fat.
You'd eat around 600 calories to get what 100g of paneer gives you for 165. And peanut protein has the lowest absorption score here, so those 25g don't behave like 25g of paneer.
Cheap, tasty, genuinely useful — as a healthy fat source.
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3
Green peasper 100g
5gprotein / 100g
16.7calories per gram
₹3.00cost per gram
0.60absorption
Secondary sourceIncomplete
Eat 100g of green peas and you've earned 4–5 grams of protein against 15 grams of carbohydrate.
Treat matar as a vegetable, which is what it is. It belongs in your sabzi, not in your protein maths.
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4
Rajmakidney beans, per 100g dry
24gprotein / 100g
14.4calories per gram
₹0.67cost per gram
0.65absorption
Secondary sourceIncomplete
The 24g figure is honest but misleading, for two reasons.
First, it's dry weight — cooked rajma is closer to 8g per 100g. Second, low methionine means incomplete protein and only moderate absorption.
On raw calorie efficiency it's actually fine. The problem is how little of it ends up on your plate.
What two bowls actually containTwo katoris of rajma comes from roughly 30g of dry beans. That's 2–3 grams of protein.
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5
Besan chillabesan, per 100g
22gprotein / 100g
17.0calories per gram
₹0.50cost per gram
0.65absorption
Secondary sourceIncomplete
Carbohydrate-dominant before you start cooking, and then you fry it.
Two or three chillas land you somewhere under 10g of protein. Watch the oil, and add soya granules or paneer if you want it to count.
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6
Bhuna chanaroasted, per 100g
20gprotein / 100g
17.3calories per gram
₹0.75cost per gram
0.65absorption
Secondary sourceIncomplete
Almost three grams of carbohydrate for every gram of protein, and moderate absorption on top.
An excellent desk snack. Reach for this instead of chips. Just don't log it as protein.
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7
Sproutsmoong, per 100g dry
24gprotein / 100g
13.7calories per gram
₹0.50cost per gram
0.67absorption
Secondary sourceIncomplete
Shown on dry weight, like the other pulses. Sprouted and drained, the same handful lands nearer 8g per 100g.
To hit a protein target on sprouts alone you'd have to eat an impossible volume. Best as a chaat — onion, tomato, a few peanuts.
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8
Daltoor, per 100g dry
22gprotein / 100g
15.5calories per gram
₹0.68cost per gram
0.70absorption
Secondary sourceIncomplete
The single biggest protein misconception in India. Every child who asked for protein was handed a bowl of dal.
Low in methionine and cysteine, so incomplete. And heavily carbohydrate-dominant once you account for the water it soaks up.
What three bowls actually contain30g dry dal plus 30g rice — a generous plate — gives you 9g of protein and over 40g of carbohydrate.
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9
Sattuper 100g powder
20gprotein / 100g
18.3calories per gram
₹0.90cost per gram
0.65absorption
Secondary sourceIncomplete
A genuinely good drink with cooling properties. But a glass uses about 30g of powder — 6g of protein against 18g of carbohydrate.
Compared to a sugar-water squash for a child in the afternoon, sattu wins easily. Compared to a protein shake, there is no comparison to make.
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10
Edamameper 100g
11gprotein / 100g
11.4calories per gram
₹5.45cost per gram
0.92absorption
Primary sourceComplete
Essentially chana for people with money. All nine essential amino acids, eaten the way you'd eat bhel or popcorn.
Excellent calorie efficiency. The price is the only thing keeping it out of Indian kitchens.
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11
Tempehfermented soy, per 100g
20gprotein / 100g
10.6calories per gram
₹4.00cost per gram
0.92absorption
Primary sourceComplete
Paneer for people with money — the protein and carbohydrate profile lands in much the same place.
One thing almost nobody knows: no animal food contains fibre. Not paneer, not chicken, not fish. Tempeh gives you protein and fibre together.
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12
Greek yogurtper 100g
9.5gprotein / 100g
10.4calories per gram
₹4.74cost per gram
1.00absorption
Primary sourceComplete
Strained curd, so the protein is concentrated. Regular dahi has around 4g per 100g; Greek yogurt has 9–10g.
The best absorption on this list, tied with paneer. It is also expensive per gram. Plain dahi at half the protein is often the better buy.
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13
Tofuper 100g, firm
9gprotein / 100g
9.9calories per gram
₹2.78cost per gram
0.90absorption
Primary sourceComplete
Affordable, complete, and notably lower in fat than paneer. Protein varies more by type than most foods here — firm tofu runs higher than soft or silken.
The best answer for vegans, and for vegetarians whose budget won't take daily paneer.
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14
Paneerhigh-protein low-fat, per 100g
26gprotein / 100g
6.3calories per gram
₹1.73cost per gram
1.00absorption
Primary sourceComplete
Regular paneer runs 18–20g per 100g with a lot of fat. The high-protein low-fat version reaches 25–28g with much less.
The best protein quality available to Indian vegetarians, and the leanest calorie cost of anything here. It's casein, which releases slowly — eat it at 10am and it will still be keeping you full at 5pm.
Fair warning: the high-protein version is noticeably chewy and plenty of people dislike the texture.
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15
Soya chunksper 100g dry
52gprotein / 100g
6.8calories per gram
₹0.29cost per gram
0.90absorption
Primary sourceComplete
Fifty-two grams of protein per 100g, complete amino acid profile, and cheaper per gram than anything else here by a wide margin.
Like rajma and dal, that's dry weight. Rehydrated and cooked, soya chunks dilute to roughly 17g per 100g — still ahead of everything else here, just not by as much as the raw number suggests.
It doesn't win on quality — paneer beats it there. It wins because 1.4 billion people can actually afford to eat it every day.
Not a lean source: alongside 50% protein you're getting 35% carbohydrate.
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Fixing the meals you already eat

None of this requires new cuisine. Add one primary source to what's already cooking.

Breakfast

Besan chilla on its own is a carbohydrate. Fold in paneer or tofu and it becomes a protein meal.

Lunch

Roti, rice and dal is three carbohydrates. Add soya chunks or paneer to the sabzi.

Dinner

Same principle, smaller portion. Tofu, paneer or soya alongside whatever's on the plate.

Three things people get wrong

Soya chunks raise estrogen in men

No study has shown this. It's a myth.

Sattu is comparable to whey protein

It isn't, and the comparison is what causes the confusion. Sattu is a good drink — far better than a sugar squash for a child at 4pm. It just isn't a protein supplement.

Pairing incomplete proteins solves the problem

Dal and rice together does complete the amino acid profile. But run the ratio afterwards and it's still overwhelmingly carbohydrate. Completeness was never the main issue — density was.