Bengali Malabar Spinach Chorchori

From the garden

• 2 bunchs Malabar spinach, leaves picked, tender stems cut into 1-inch lengths · about 10 packed cups of leaves and stems; it cooks down to almost nothing
• 2 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch batons
• 2 cups pumpkin or kabocha squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 small eggplant, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 green chiles, slit lengthwise · use one for a mild pot
• ½ tsp fenugreek seed · toast it only to fragrant; scorched fenugreek turns the whole pot bitter
• 1 tsp fresh turmeric, grated (optional) · or 1/2 tsp ground turmeric

From the pantry

• 1 tsp black mustard seed · with the fenugreek, this stands in for a spoon of panch phoron
• 3 tbsp mustard oil or neutral oil · mustard oil is the Bengali choice; heat it until it just smokes to take off the raw edge
• ½ tsp sugar (optional) · the Bengali pinch that rounds off the bitterness
• 1½ cups rice · for serving
• salt · to taste

1. Start the rice. Heat the oil in a wide lidded pan over medium-high until it shimmers, then add the mustard seed, fenugreek, and slit chiles and let the mustard pop, about 30 seconds.
2. Add the potato, squash, and eggplant with the turmeric, sugar, and a teaspoon of salt. Stir to coat and cook uncovered 5 minutes, turning now and then, until the edges take a little color.
3. Pile the Malabar spinach in by the handful, cover, and let it collapse, 4–5 minutes. Add no water: the leaves and stems carry plenty, and their light mucilage is what binds a chorchori.
4. Fold everything together, lower the heat, and cook covered 12–15 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until the potato gives to a knife and the squash starts melting into the greens.
5. Uncover, raise the heat, and stir 2–3 minutes to drive off the last of the liquid. A chorchori should cling, never pool. Taste for salt and serve hot with rice.