4 tablespoons butter
1 Spanish onion
¾ lb. Patna rice (long grained)
1-1½ pints boiling chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
¼ lb. sliced mushrooms
Melt butter in casserole and brown finely-chopped Spanish onion in it. Add uncooked rice and stir for a minute or two, until the grains of rice are coated with butter. Add 1¼ pints of boiling chicken stock and salt and pepper, to taste, and cover casserole tightly. Bake the rice in a moderate oven (375° F) for about 30 minutes, or until grains are tender, stirring occasionally and adding a little more chicken stock if necessary. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and sliced mushrooms sautéed in butter and toss with a fork. Instead of the mushrooms 1½ oz. of grated cheese can be forked in. To this basic recipe shredded leftovers (chicken, ham) may be added with the rice or stirred in during the cooking.
Great Dishes of the World
As the above two recipes show, the difference between a risotto and a pilaff is that the former uses thick-grained rice and is cooked on top of the stove with the liquid added by degrees resulting in a soft cream; the latter uses long-grained rice and is cooked in the oven with all the liquid added at once resulting in a dry and flaky consistency.