Uncle Roger takes on another fried rice video, this time against Jamie Oliver's jam-infused recipe

Uncle Roger takes on another fried rice video, this time against Jamie Oliver's jam-infused recipe
PHOTO: Screengrab/YouTube/MrNigelNg

After settling the score with BBC Food presenter Hersha Patel for her viral rice-washing fiasco, Uncle Roger — the East Asian caricature played by comedian Nigel Ng — is back with another critical look at a different fried rice recipe by a different British food personality. 

This time, the UK-based Malaysian comedian takes on an actual celebrity chef known the world over: Jamie Oliver. 

As someone with dozens of restaurants, cookbooks, cooking shows, and a Member of the Order of the British Empire award to boot, Jamie was fully expected to nail an egg fried rice recipe. 

It seemed to be simple enough with only five ingredients needed — and one that’s supposed to be for the “quickest, easiest and tastiest” egg fried rice, according to the video caption on Jamie’s YouTube channel. The clip originally aired on British TV network Channel 4.

Much to the chagrin of fried-rice connoisseur Uncle Roger, however, Jamie absolutely failed at whipping up a dish that lives up to Asian standards. 

Some things that Uncle Roger wasn’t too chuffed about:

  • The usage of a saucepan instead of a wok
  • The extensive usage of olive oil 
  • Frying sliced spring onions instead of using it as a garnish
  • Using pre-cooked rice
  • Pouring chilli jam into the rice (and taking issue with the existence of chilli jam)
  • Adding a splash of water during cooking
  • Breaking up a block of silken tofu by hand 
  • The lack of MSG and garlic

Just like last time, the comedian’s video has gone viral, clocking in over 2 million views as of writing after it was posted on Sunday (Aug 30). It would seem that Ng has found a successful formula to continue his run of widely-shared YouTube videos — using his Uncle Roger persona to critique cooking videos. 

If history repeats itself though, we might very well see Jamie and Uncle Roger teaming up for a cooking video together. 

ilyas@asiaone.com

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