Lei Cha is probably one of the most underrated hawker options if you are watching your calories. At 430 calories for a full bowl, you are getting rice, a mountain of vegetables, tofu, anchovies, and that earthy herb broth all at once. The vegetables and broth do almost nothing to the calorie count, which is the whole point. The real calorie driver is the peanut and sesame topping, 75 calories in just 15 grams. That tiny pile of nuts costs you almost as much as 100g of cooked rice. Most people do not even think about it because it looks like a garnish, but it is basically nut butter territory in terms of calorie density.
What actually moves the number up or down is simple. The oil used when stir-frying those vegetables varies a lot between stalls. A heavy-handed wok with extra oil can easily add 50 to 80 calories across the vegetable portion. The peanut portion is the other lever: ask for less topping and you drop about 35 to 50 calories without losing any satisfaction from the meal. If you swap white rice for brown rice the calorie count stays roughly the same at 430, but you get more fibre which helps you feel full longer. And if you ask the stall to go easy on the chai por (preserved radish), you are also cutting a bit of sodium, which matters if you are retaining water.