A pupil skipping starter ordered rice dish (5)
I believe the answer is:
pilau
'rice dish' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a pupil skipping starter ordered' is the wordplay.
'skipping starter' means to remove the first letter.
'ordered' indicates an anagram.
'pupil' with its first letter removed is 'upil'.
'a'+'upil'='aupil'
'aupil' is an anagram of 'PILAU'.
(Other definitions for pilau that I've seen before include "Rice seasoned with spices and cooked with meat or vegetables" , "Exotic dish" , "Indian rice recipe" , "Spicy rice dish from the East" , "Type of rice" .)