Can you make stew without onions

I own the same book and was similarly surprised when I read that instruction, but in the section on ingredients, the author does mention a particular variety of onions called pink onions. The mention is on pg. 32, and there is a picture of a pink onion on the upper left of pg. 34.

Here's an excerpt from pg. 32:

"The longer the onions are fried, the browner they will get and the deeper the color of the curry will be... When the onions are fried until only light pink in color, they will impart a sweetish taste to the curry. Certain varieties of onion, like Spanish onions, are too sweet to be appropriate for curry-making. The most appropriate from the taste point of view are the French and the small pink English."

From 50 great curries of india

I've never seen pink onions in any of the local markets (in northwestern US), I used white onions and sauteed them just to the point of browning. The recipe turned out fine, but it's a lot of onion. (The recipe calls for 2 large onions, finely chopped. It's a recipe that produces 2 servings.) Personally, I'd go a little lighter on the amount of onion or use yellow onions (despite the author's recommendation against Spanish onions), but that is just personal preference from a Western palate.

Note: it looks like the current printing of the book is different from the one I own, so the page numbers I cite may be off, but if you search inside the book (on Amazon) for "pink onion" you can see the page I've cited and the picture of what the author calls a pink onion.

Ah, One Pot Pasta....

As loads of bloggers, authors and cooks - possibly inspired by Martha Stewart and her team - have confirmed: dumping the pasta, sauce ingredients and a carefully meassured amount of liquid in one pot or pan will give you a "pasta and sauce" dish in ten to fifteen minutes.

And it works. Sort of.

Your instinct matches my experience: when you omit the sautéing or slow roasting of ingredients you are missing the flavour compounds that this step creates, likewise if your recipe stews the sauce for a long time. So while all ingredients in one pot pasta will be cooked, due to cutting everything to the appropriate size, the flavour will be different from what your traditional method creates.

If you expect one pot pasta to taste like your traditional recipe, you will probably be disappointed. If you are simply aiming for a creative, hassle-free quick dish, go for it.