This is a lovely, balanced two-pan dinner, ready in just about half an hour. I advocate cooking the pan of rice on the stove so you can use the water to both boil your eggs and cook your spinach. Lest it look like I have the world’s most adventurous eater, I will admit that Alba goes through phases with dal – she used to love it as a baby, but at the time of writing is very against it (she will, however, happily steal spoons of this rice from the pan. And ask for pieces of butter as if it were cheese).