Medu vada

One serving of Medu vada — 2 vadas — comes to 255 kcal, 8 g protein, 22 g carbs and 15 g fat. Scaled to 100 g it works out to 255 kcal and 8 g protein, which makes it a moderate protein source for a street food item. That single serving is about 17% of a 1,500 kcal day and 12.8% 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 Medu vada takes roughly 6,375 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 ₹30 a serving it costs about ₹75 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 breakfast and the evening snack slot.

If you want variety without changing the macros much, the closest swaps in the street food category are Bread pakora (aloo), Chole bhature, Dabeli, Idli sambar plate (street/darshini) — each keeps a similar role on the plate while shifting the exact protein-to-carb balance a little.