Instructions: Pilaf, a rice dish that appears in cuisines from the Balkans to the Eastern Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent, was one of my earliest exotic food triumphs. I cooked meat-laced pilafs, plain pilafs and pilafs with aromatic flavors. But eventually the dish was overshadowed by my discovery of risotto, which became overwhelmingly trendy for a while despite its relative difficulty.

A few months ago, I rediscovered pilaf, and found that it compares favorably with risotto in every way: It is far easier to make, is equally delicious, can produce scores of spin-offs and can also serve as a starter, side dish or main course.

One note of caution: it is so easy to add things to pilaf that you might wind up with a muddy-tasting one-pot dish that isnt half bad but isnt exactly pilaf either. Better to keep the dish simple, with a couple of clear flavors that wont battle it out on your palate.

Which rice is best? Pilafs made with short-grain rice, such as arborio, have better texture. But that quality is fleeting, and if you overcook the pilaf or let it rest too long, that texture becomes gummy. Long-grain rice - basmati is the rice of choice - is more flexible in its cooking time, and the grains remain separate long after the cooking is done.

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.