Think the sfardim are “lucky” they can eat rice? Consider this: before the rice goes into the pot, EACH GRAIN needs to be checked 3 times. So if you’re cooking for a family 6, figure on 4 cups of rice per meal. Know how many grains of rice are in a cup? Lots.
Plus they need to say selichos all of Elul (instead of just the 7-10 days us ashkenaizim get away with