Can you cook without onions? I don't think I can.

[broccolispears]

Apart from cakes and biscuits, obviously.

I ran out of onions late last week and have not got to the shop to get any more yet. It's killing me trying to think of supper every day without onions. Last night we had egg and lentil curry, but I chopped up some apples and pretended they were onions.

[posieflump]

egg, lentil and apple curry?!!

[theyoungvisiter]

I don't think I could either.

When I was a kid I was genuinely amazed to find out that my best friend's mum never cooked with onions because apparently she considered them a foreign food and they cause intestinal upsets . Whereas at my house you started the shopping list each week with a dozen onions and 2 bulbs of garlic and progressed from there.

This was in the mid-eighties btw, not 1940!

[Overmydeadbody]

No way, never.

Onions and garlic are the essential backbones to all my cooking.

[Iklboo]

Onions are an absolute must have for me in the cupboard, If I don't have onions, bisto, oxo and mustard in the house there's something awry.
I don't cook EVERYTHIHNG with them but I use them loads

[MuffinMclay]

I do all the time. Dh loathes onions, and I can take or leave them.

We use lots of garlic instead.

[Overmydeadbody]

theyoungvisitor an ex's mum thought that about onions too and also classed poasta as 'funny fopreign food' and wouldn't ever cook with it

Her culinary skills extended as far as boiling or roasting potatoes and frying some sort of meat to go with it.

[belgo]

I often use leeks in stir fries instead of onions.

[broccolispears]

posie - it wasn't too bad actually. With coconut and lime - you do get fruit in curry. Onions would have been better though.

So, do I make onionless lasagne for supper tonight? Do I think of something that doesn't require onions? What? Or do I wait until the parcel man has been and then make a late dash through the rain with grumpy children to buy onions and then cook something really really quickly for supper tonight?

[broccolispears]

Yes, leeks would do just as well. No leeks though. Seriously - as far as onion substitutes go, it was apples, tangerines, kiwi, celery, cucumber or quarter of an elderly carrot.

[theyoungvisiter]

Muffin what does your DH loath about onions?! I am genuinely curious as it seems so weird to me - I mean they have almost no taste when they are cooked, just a lovely comforting background note.

I can more easily understand people who don't like garlic (although I love it) as that does have a strongish taste - but onions?! You might as well not like potatoes or something.

Overmydeadbody - glad to know she was not alone - do you think you may have gone out with my friend's brother?

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Yes. Onions do dodgy things to my tummy if I have them too often, so they are optional in most things for me.

I know a MNer whose dd is allergic to onions too.

[AMumInScotland]

I never cook with onions any more, as they disagree with DH - but I find a heaped teaspoonful of mustard powder and a good glug of Worcestershire sauce will give a good flavour to practically anything savoury!

[Pinkjenny]

Amuminscotland - you'd get on an absolute treat with dh, who puts worcestershire sauce into absolutely everything.

[AMumInScotland]

My DH will cheerfully put it onto baked beans, or cheese on toast. I'd never used it in anything before I met him, but it has to be said it's good and tangy!

[Dragonbutter]

when i was pregnant with DS1 i craved onions. i made french onion soup and loves cheese and onion toasties. even pickled onions.

when pregnant with DS2, onions made me vomit. i just couldn't stand them. i learnt to just miss them out of recipes, even bolognese. of course you can cook without onions.

[TheProvincialLady]

Ah now when I was pregnant with DS I couldn't abide the smell of onions (or garlic) and if even the tiniest bit got into something I ate I would feel sick for the next 24 hours. So I learned that yes, you can cook without onions. It is surprising houw little you notice it in well flavoured food, eg a tomato sauce with chillis. As soon as I gave birth I went back on them though, I love onions and garlic!

[Khara]

I was someone who couldn't cook without onions. My cooking consisted of a lot of shove-it-all-in-together recipes, all of which began "chop & fry one onion." Unfortunately, my dcs are ridiculously fussy about what they'll eat and ds2 hates onions and can spot them in a dish no matter how finely I chop them. Meanwhile ds1 will only eat a meal if all the components are separate on the plate and not touching at all and absolutely dry (so tinned tomatoes are out too!) We always eat together but I find what they will eat bland and tasteless, yet when I serve up something I like it's like I'm trying to poison them.

So cooking without onions would be something like chicken goujons/fish fingers/salmon fillets or a pork chop with a baked potato and carrots - but absolutely not peas because they are yukkity yuk too apparently.

[MuffinMclay]

theyoungvisitor - he says they are slimey! He also hates the smell. He can detect even the tiniest trace of onion in things, even if I've blitzed it to a pulp and think it is hidden. He'll tolerate red onions or shallots, at a push, but not bog standard onions.

He's quite an adventurous eater, apart from that (and a very poncey cook).

LOL at the potatoes comment. Ds1 won't eat potatoes!

[ChukkyPig]

One of my postnatal group is a branch of Hindu which is vegetarian but also no onion or garlic. I had never heard of this before and must admit I found the thought of a veggie diet without these 2 staples a bit scary!

I use loads of garlic and onion all the time, my problem is DH won't touch mushrooms which I love and always used to put in everything. Gutted.

[CountessDracula]

no
celery too

[jimmyjammys]

I would really recommend frozen diced onions, i get them from sainsburys and once you fry them in oil you cannot tell the difference from fresh. I cook everything from scratch and this is one thing that has truly made my life easier!

[VictorianSqualor]

No, nor garlic, or olive oil, sage is a pain to run out of too.