Fish paste on its own is about 130 calories per 100g and mostly protein. Tod mun pla ends up at 240 per 100g because the cakes go into a wok of oil and soak up about 12g of it per 5 pieces. That is 105 calories of frying oil in a 300 calorie snack, a third of the total. The curry paste and the egg that bind it add another 35. The dip is 30 for a small bowl, and most of that is the sugar in the vinegar and the crushed peanut on top.
Size is the whole story. The market pieces are 25g, thin and crisp, 60 calories each. The restaurant version served on a plate with a proper ajad is 60 to 80g per cake and the MGR calorie table puts one at 230. Five of those is over 1,000. Same name, four times the number. If you are ordering at a sit down place, 2 pieces is a portion, not 5.
As a snack tod mun pla is a decent trade. Twenty grams of protein in 300 calories beats almost anything else at the same cart, where a bag of fried bananas is 400 with 3g of protein. The mistake is eating it as a side to a full meal, a plate of fried fish cakes next to khao pad and tom yum. Then it is a 300 calorie garnish.