Baldo rice substitutes

Almost the same grain wearing an Italian label, and available in every supermarket.

Best for

Turkish pilav, stuffed vegetables and dolma, sutlac and other rice puddings

Rinse in three or four changes of cold water until it runs clear, then soak fifteen to twenty minutes in warm salted water and drain. Skip that step and the surface starch turns the pot creamy and clumped, like a loose risotto. Rinsed and soaked, it is genuinely hard to tell apart.

The Japanese-style medium grain sold as sushi rice, plump and slightly sticky.

Best for

pilav when you want soft, tender grains, rice pudding, where it is excellent, dolma fillings that need to hold together

Rinse it well. It absorbs a little less liquid than baldo, so start with less than the recipe says and check at twelve minutes. The finished pilav is softer and the grains cling to each other more, which is pleasant but not the traditional loose result.

Slim, dry, separate grains, and in basmati's case an obvious perfume.

Best for

pilav where separate grains matter most, serving alongside a saucy stew, when it is the only rice in the house

It works, it just is not the same dish. The grains are narrower and drier so the pilav feels lighter and less buttery, and basmati's floral aroma sits oddly against dill and butter. Do not use it for sutlac, since it has too little starch to thicken the milk.

Spanish paella rice, short and thirsty, which stays firm no matter what you do to it.

Best for

pilav and pilaf-style bakes, dishes where the rice sits in broth, cooks who worry about overcooking rice

Bomba drinks up noticeably more liquid than baldo, so add about a quarter more and give it a few extra minutes. It stays a touch firmer in the centre and never turns mushy, which makes it forgiving but slightly less tender than a good pilav should be.

The other Italian risotto rice, larger and even starchier than arborio.

Best for

pilav when arborio is unavailable, dishes finished with plenty of butter, rice pudding

It releases more starch than arborio, so rinse it harder and longer. If you are making pilav, this is the grain most likely to go creamy on you; if you are making sutlac, that is a bonus rather than a fault.

Not an imitation of rice at all, but the genuine Anatolian alternative to it.

Best for

bulgur pilavi as a side dish, dolma and stuffed peppers, when you want more flavour than rice gives

Use coarse grade, one part bulgur to one part hot stock, covered off the heat for fifteen minutes. It tastes nutty and wheaty rather than neutral, and it is chewier, so it is a change of dish rather than a disguise. In dolma it is arguably better, because it does not go pasty.