I also love steamed rice as in a Chinese restaurant and have yet been able to duplicate it. I think they use a special rice and probably just steam it, which I cannot do at home. I will follow this thread closely to learn from others... Personally, when I try at home, I use basmati or other plain white rice and just boil it in a sauce pan without adding anything. If I let the pan sit with lid on after cooking for 5 mins and before serving, the taste and texture is very similar, but not the same. NO BUTTER OR ANY OTHER ADDITIVES, OF COURSE A nice tasty rice alternative is white rice (basmati or otherwise) in a sauce pan but with chicken buillion cube added to water to give flavor. Not plain steamed rice, but very good

Chinese restaurants use short grain rice which can be found in most really big grocery stores. You can also buy it online. If you don't have a rice steamer or a rice cooker, I've heard Shirakiku instant rice is delicious (and microwaveable): http://www.amazon.com/Shirakiku-Instant-Cooked-Rice-Pk/dp/B000643THQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1226287386&sr=8-1

You might need to use Thai jasmine, or Japanese rice, rice cooker will be perfect to cook them. As long as you put right amount of water. It will turn out good.

First you need to get the right rice. A Thai rice like jasmine is good. And to make it like the restaurants, you will need to steam your rice or use a rice cooker. They are really inexpensive and can do so many things. You can even saute veggies in the bottom and make a rice dish. They keep your rice warm for many hours and it always comes out perfect no matter what kind of rice you use or liquid.

First, you need to wash off the excess starch from the rice. This will prevent it from making a sticky mess. Put the rice in a deep bowl, and in your sink, run cold tap water over it. Once the bowl is full of water, use your fingers to swish the rice around. The water will start getting murky. Now gently pour this water out. Repeat this process till the water is mostly clear. This will take at least 4-5 washes. Now fill it up one last time. Don't wash the rice again. Just leave it in there, covered with water, for about 30 minutes or so. After the soaking, you will notice that the rice grains have turned a nice milky white.Then drain out all the water. Put the rice in a heavy-gauge flat bottom pan. Add water. The thumb rule is twice the amount of water as rice but if you have soaked it for half an hour 1 and half times the quantity of rice is enough.Add salt and a tbsp of oil to the water and stir well. Put the pan on medium high heat. Wait till the water boils and starts bubbling. Now turn the heat down as low as you can, cover with the tight lid, and let it just sit there for about 7/8 mts minutes. Just peek in once after 5 mts to check that the water has not completely dried out.When you see steam coming out from the lid put the flame on high count to 10 and get the pan off the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes to let the rice cook in the steam. Perfect steam rice ready.

Jasmine rice is the only rice to use.. mmmmm.. and buy a rice cooker, seriously. You can get them pretty cheap. It's the easiest way.