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Substitutions · 112 dishes here use it
Starch that either steams or fries, and the two want opposite things. Fresh rice for eating, cold day-old rice for the pan — warm rice in a wok is how you get porridge.
Everything below is judged against that job. A swap that covers it is a swap; one that only looks similar is not.
16 of the 112 dishes here that mention rice list it as optional — 14% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.
Functional substitution system
For rice, the page's working definition is: Starch that either steams or fries, and the two want opposite things. Fresh rice for eating, cold day-old rice for the pan — warm rice in a wok is how you get porridge. The swap cards below are judged against that job rather than visual resemblance.
Job → candidate → side effects → small test → correct.
1 · Job
What is the missing ingredient doing?
2 · Candidate
Choose the shelf item that replaces that function.
3 · Side effects
Check water, fat, salt, acid, sweetness, and texture.
4 · Small test
Change a spoonful or small portion first when possible.
5 · Correct
Taste again and move only the axis that is still wrong.
Instead · 1
one for one dry
Instead · 2
one for one dry, cooked in salted water
Instead · 3
one for one dry, plan on twice the cooking time
What none of them do
Nothing else makes risotto or a paella. Those depend on a specific starch coming off a specific short grain, and a different grain gives you a good dish with the wrong name.
These dishes list rice as optional. They were written to work without it, so no ratio is needed and nothing has to be bought.
These need it and are short enough that nothing hides: 4 required ingredients or fewer. Make the swap a decision rather than a repair.
The company rice keeps in this library, counted off required ingredients. A swap that argues with the top two is the wrong swap, whatever a chart says.