Parboiled rice substitutes

The closest behavioural match. Basmati is a very long, low-starch grain that dries out and separates as it cooks, which is exactly the property people want from converted rice. It cooks faster, in about fifteen minutes rather than twenty-five, and it brings a distinct nutty, floral aroma. In jollof that aroma is welcome and often traditional. In Cajun jambalaya it reads slightly perfumed and unfamiliar, though not unpleasant.

Best for

jollof rice, pilaf, rice salads, biryani, rice to serve under a stew

Rinse it until the water runs clear and, if you have time, soak it for twenty minutes and reduce the liquid a little more. Basmati grains are more fragile than converted rice, so stop stirring once the lid goes on.

The most available substitute and a good one with two adjustments. It absorbs less liquid and cooks faster, so use less stock and check at eighteen minutes. The real difference is texture: long-grain white rice releases surface starch, so a finished jambalaya is softer and a bit clumpier, with grains that cling in small clusters rather than standing entirely apart.

Best for

jambalaya, jollof rice, dirty rice, rice-cooker recipes, casseroles

Rinse it in a few changes of cold water until they run nearly clear, which washes off the loose starch and gets you most of the way to separate grains. Then leave it alone. Every stir scrapes starch off the grains and glues the pot together.

An excellent structural match that few people think of. The intact bran layer keeps every grain firmly separate and it holds its shape through long simmering, stirring and reheating better than converted rice does. The trade-off is flavour and time: it tastes distinctly nutty and whole-grain, chews noticeably firmer, and needs roughly twice the cooking time.

Best for

rice salads, grain bowls, meal-prep rice held for days, jollof if you accept a nuttier result

The extra forty minutes is the problem in a one-pot dish like jambalaya, where the meat and vegetables will overcook. Either cook the brown rice separately and combine, or add a good deal more stock and accept a long simmer.

If your shop has it, this is the nearest relative on the shelf: the same steaming-in-the-husk process applied to rice that keeps its bran. It behaves almost identically to converted white rice in terms of separate grains and generous liquid absorption, while tasting nuttier and chewing firmer.

Best for

jambalaya, jollof rice, rice-cooker recipes, anything held warm on a buffet

It is often sold under the same brand as converted white rice, in a brown-package version. Cook time sits between white converted rice and ordinary brown rice.

Being straightforward: this is the weakest choice for the dishes that specify converted rice. Jasmine is a soft, moist, aromatic long grain bred to be slightly sticky and tender, so in a wet, long-simmered jambalaya or jollof it tends to break down into something closer to a savoury rice porridge. Fine as plain rice under a curry, risky as the structural rice in a one-pot dish.

Best for

plain steamed rice, stir-fries, serving alongside rather than cooking within a stew

If it is all you have, cut the liquid hard, rinse thoroughly, cook covered and undisturbed, and take it off the heat two minutes early to rest. Consider cooking it separately and folding it into the finished jambalaya rather than simmering it in the pot.

Not a substitute for a one-pot recipe where the rice must absorb the cooking liquid, but the right answer for fried rice, rice salads and reheated dishes, where all you actually want is firm separate grains. Refrigerating cooked rice overnight firms the starch and dries the surface, which mimics the separateness converted rice is prized for.

Best for

fried rice, rice salads, stuffed vegetables, adding to a finished dish

Cool cooked rice quickly and refrigerate it within an hour, keep it no more than a day or two, and reheat it until piping hot all the way through. Rice left standing at room temperature is a genuine food-safety risk, so do not leave a warm pot out overnight.