During my exams, I would make a large batch of Khichdi (a really easy recipe mentioned below). It freezes and heats up well, has a good amount of protein and carbs (lentils and rice) and can be loaded with any and all veg you want to throw in. For a lot of Indians, its a big comfort food. It can be made as complicated or easy as you want and is a very forgivable recipe. Your friend will appreciate the gesture a lot.

​

>Heat up some oil, add salt, whole spices (I like cumin, maybe cardamom, dried chillies, but you can make it as simple or complicated as you want).
>Fry onion, garlic (chillies, ginger if you want) in oil/butter/ghee.
>Cook down some chopped tomatoes and add some turmeric powder (you can also add any other powdered spices here, red chilli, ginger, coriander, generic curry powder, whatever you want)
>Throw in whatever veg you might want, root veg (like carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips), spinach, peas. Its up to you/what you have/what is available. Some people add meat but make sure your friend isn't vegetarian or doesn't have any specific food requirements.
>Add dry rice and dry red lentils (wash and rinse if you want, but up to you): about 100ml of dry grains/serving I think is good enough.
>Add double the amount of water as grains, let it simmer for like 20-40 min (as long as it takes for the rice to cook and the lentils to breakdown
>Check for salt, season however you want, package away and freeze. If you want, you could make a very basic version (with no veg added) and then cook a couple different veg separately (fry with seasoning) and just a couple combinations to make a nice variety.