The Friday Curry, Recalculated: Three Orders That Clear 35g of Protein

There's a specific moment on a Friday evening when the takeaway app opens and all your good intentions quietly leave the room. The curry house is the usual suspect. Creamy sauces, a naan the size of a cushion, a tub of pilau rice that could double as a doorstop — it's easy to write the whole thing off as a night off from thinking about macros.

But here's the thing. An Indian or Bangladeshi takeaway is one of the best-equipped kitchens in the country for a high-protein dinner. It has a tandoor. It has dal. It has chana. The trap isn't the cuisine, it's about four specific items on the menu — and once you know which ones, the rest of the ordering is genuinely enjoyable rather than a compromise.

The tandoor is your best friend on the menu

Dry heat, a yoghurt and spice marinade, no cream anywhere near it. Anything that comes out of the tandoor — chicken tikka, tandoori chicken, chicken or lamb shashlik, seekh kebab — is delivering serious protein for a reasonable calorie spend. A portion of chicken tikka as a starter is often 30g of protein or more, which is more than a lot of supermarket chicken breasts that cost twice as much.

Compare that to the "house special" curries sitting in a cream-and-butter base. They're not off-limits, but they're doing roughly the same protein as a tandoori dish for an extra 300–400 calories. That's the trade you're making on a Friday night, and it's worth making consciously rather than by accident.

What the menu actually costs you

Rough figures, based on typical UK takeaway portions. Treat them as a compass, not a spreadsheet — every kitchen portions differently.

• Chicken tikka starter (4–5 pieces): ~280 kcal, ~33g protein
• Half tandoori chicken: ~400 kcal, ~45g protein
• Chicken shashlik: ~430 kcal, ~38g protein
• Seekh kebab: ~330 kcal, ~22g protein
• Dal tarka: ~220 kcal, ~11g protein
• Chana masala: ~260 kcal, ~12g protein
• Sag aloo: ~220 kcal, ~6g protein
• Plain basmati portion: ~280 kcal, ~7g protein
• Pilau rice (large tub): ~430 kcal, ~8g protein
• Plain naan: ~330 kcal, ~9g protein
• Peshwari naan: ~420 kcal, ~8g protein
• Chapati: ~120 kcal, ~4g protein
• Raita: ~70 kcal, ~3g protein
• Chicken korma: ~640 kcal, ~24g protein
• Chicken tikka masala: ~600 kcal, ~30g protein
• Onion bhaji (two): ~300 kcal, ~5g protein

Read that list twice. The korma isn't evil, it's just doing less for you than a shashlik for considerably more calories. Meanwhile dal and chana quietly add protein and fibre, which is the bit most takeaway orders completely miss.

Three complete orders that hit the target

Order one: the tandoor classic

Half tandoori chicken, dal tarka, a small portion of basmati, and raita. Roughly 66g of protein and around 970 calories. Slightly over the brief, but you can split the rice with whoever you're eating with and land closer to 800. The raita is doing real work here — it cools the tandoori and adds a bit of protein for almost nothing.

Order two: the two-starter trick

Chicken tikka starter, chana masala, one chapati, plus whatever veg side takes your fancy — bhindi bhaji or a simple salad. About 49g of protein for roughly 750 calories. This is the order I'd recommend to anyone who wants variety without a mountain of rice. Two smaller dishes feel more like a treat than one big one.

Order three: the sharing plate

Chicken shashlik, a seekh kebab to split, sag aloo, and one plain rice between two. Per person you're looking at roughly 45g of protein and 700–800 calories, depending on how the kebabs divide. Add a poppadom each if the ritual demands it — at about 60 calories apiece, it's not the hill to die on.

Where the calories are actually hiding

Almost never in the meat. It's the creamy base sauces, the peshwari naan (coconut and sugar, essentially a dessert), the pilau tub that's twice the size of a sensible portion, and the onion bhajis that arrive as a "little extra". Mango chutney is another one — a couple of spoons is fine, half the jar is a different conversation.

One practical tip: ask for the sauce on the side where the kitchen will do it, or simply don't eat every drop of it. Nobody is suggesting you leave a korma untouched, but the meat and the veg are the point of the dish, not the gravy.

Order for tomorrow, not just tonight

A half tandoori chicken and a dal reheat far better than a cream curry, which separates and goes grainy in the microwave. If you're deliberately ordering a bit extra, lean towards the dry tandoori dishes, the dal, and the chana. Cooked rice needs cooling and fridging quickly and eating within a day — the usual rice rules apply, no exceptions.

Keep the ritual, lose the autopilot

The Friday curry isn't a problem to be solved. It's one of the better evenings of the week, and there's no reason to turn it into a maths exam at the kitchen table. Just make one decision before you open the app: pick something from the tandoor, add a dal or a chana, and choose your bread with your eyes open. The rest — the poppadoms, the chat, the slightly-too-late night — takes care of itself.