When making Eetch, is it necessary to sauté the onions and simmer the tomato products? Are there differences if using quinoa rather than bulghur?
Okay. I tried this two different ways. First I tried just combining the ingredients without the simmering and sautéing step. The flavors didn't seem to come together as well and it did take longer for the liquid to absorb into the bulghur.

So then I tried just adding the chopped onion without sautéing first but I did simmer the tomato products. This worked equally as well as when I sautéed the onion, added the tomato products and simmered. The onion is finely diced so the residual heat from the simmered tomato products was enough to very slightly soften it. 

I haven't had a chance to try it using quinoa rather than bulghur but when I do I will update the answer.