Matt McConnell's vegan-friendly spiced chickpeas and spinach

This vegan-friendly dish comes from Seville. Says Matt: "We ate it the first time in Macarena, the crazy neighbourhood to the north of the city. It's really bohemian and some of the places look a little scary to walk into but there was this smell coming out of one of them and we had never smelt that smell in Spain, let alone Europe. It was like something out of South-East Asia, punchy and heady. We went in and it was a really grubby bar with a short list and you could tell they only had a couple of things so we ordered the chickpeas with spinach. Straight after that, we walked across the road to the market, bought all of the spices, dried chickpeas and a big hearty bag of spinach leaves and took it back to our apartment and cooked it straight away. We wrote the recipe down and it has been on our menu since."

Spiced chickpeas and spinach

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

125 ml (½ cup) olive oil, plus extra for frying

1 onion, roughly sliced

1 dried bay leaf

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp fine salt

¼ tbsp black pepper

½ tbsp coriander seeds, roasted and ground

½ tbsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground

¼ tbsp fennel seeds, roasted and ground

1 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

220g (1 cup) chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked

25g (½ cup) silverbeet, blanched and chopped (optional)

100g (2 cups) English spinach

juice of 2 lemons

sea salt flakes, to serve

METHOD

1. Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat and sweat the onion, bay leaf and garlic with the salt and pepper until the onions are translucent and soft, but not coloured. Add the spices, mix well, then remove from the heat. Mix in the chickpeas and silverbeet (if using), then transfer to the fridge to cool until ready to re-cook.

2. Heat a little more oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. When the oil is quite hot, add an even layer of the chickpea mixture to the pan, spreading it out to cover the base of the pan. This will allow the chickpeas to caramelise on the bottom. Do not stir or toss the mixture until the chickpeas have become quite brown, almost burnt.

3. Quickly add the spinach and toss or stir until it begins to soften. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Serve piping hot with a sprinkle of sea salt.

Edited extract from Eat At The Bar by Matt McConnell published by Hardie Grant Books, RRP $50.