Quelite Lamb's Quarter Leaves with Potatoes

Quelite (kay-lee-thay) shown here is also known as pigweed or lamb's quarter. (Any generic greens can be referred to as quelite as well, as I understand it).

This particular weed used to be a commonplace greens my mom cooked when I was young. Known as Paruppu Keerai or Chakravarthi Keerai, Chenopodium album is not as popular as, say, spinach or kale, even though it is supposed to have hepatoprotective benefits, as well as antibacterial activity on a handful of pathogens that affect humans. Some weeds have it better than others!

All that aside, did I happen to mention that I picked up a bunch of quelite from the farmer's market when I also picked up some pipitza  and some papalo that this bubbly farmer encouraged me to munch on while I shopped at his stand?

I sifted through my childhood memories and came up with this simple dish that I used to love eating with rice and rasam.

Ingredients
1 medium onion, diced
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, minced
6 to 8 ripe cherry tomatoes (any variety is fine, I had these handy in the garden)
1 bunch of quelite/lamb's quarter/pigweed, tender stem and leaves chopped, washed
2 large potatoes, cut into chunks
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Juice of one lime
salt to taste
1 Tbsp sesame oil


Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions, garlic, turmeric powder and a pinch of salt, sauté
2. Add the chunks of potatoes, some water, cover and cook till potatoes are par-cooked
3. Add the chopped quelite, tomatoes, brown sugar, salt, some more water, cover and cook till greens are tender and potatoes are fork-tender
4. Off heat, squeeze the juice of one lime, stir well and serve warm with roti or naan, or plain brown rice