The Uncle Roger-Hersha Patel Egg Fried Rice Saga continues and this time, the BBC Food host is out to redeem herself from previous “crimes against rice.”
In July, Patel went viral for a video tutorial on egg fried rice where she washes and drains wet, cooked rice in a colander, rather than waiting for all the liquid to be absorbed. Asian people around the world were horrified.
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No one as much as Uncle Roger, who filmed his reaction to Patel’s video. When he began watching, he didn’t know what he was in for. But as soon as Patel began draining the rice, his distress was palpable.
“Oh my god. You’re killing me, woman…how can you drain rice in a colander? This is not pasta!” he said, his voice raised in shock. Uncle Roger is a character created by Malaysian stand-up comedian Nigel Ng.
After a black-and-white instant replay of the moment Patel swooshed the rice under a running tap, Ng buried his face in his hands in stress.
“Who cooks rice like this? How did this woman get on BBC Food?” he said. “They never ask Uncle Roger. Uncle Roger [can] teach masterclass on cooking rice.”
His reaction video now has over 9.8 million views on YouTube and has been reposted on Facebook and Twitter. After going viral, Ng met up with Patel in the United Kingdom, where they are both based. In a video together, Patel said she was “trolled” after simply following a BBC recipe.
“I know how to cook rice, and that’s all I’m saying about that,” she said, smiling.
In a tweet, Ng announced that they would do a video together. He posted the collab on Sunday, Aug. 9, which shows Patel cooking a new batch of egg fried rice — this time without washing and straining.
In character as Uncle Roger, Ng immediately points out Patel’s collection of colanders. “I think this woman is in love with colanders,” he says.
The entire video is filled Uncle Roger teasing Patel saying, “Indian people good at rice also…maybe except you,” and “different culture make rice differently, just some culture is wrong.”
At one point, Patel accidentally drops some rice on the stove while tossing it on a wok and Uncle Roger quips, “my mom would have beat me to death already.”
When Patel didn’t use a colander, Ng said that he was “genuinely surprised.” “Can you believe that Auntie Hersha had 25 colanders on her shelf, and doesn’t use one single colander? The self-control Auntie Hersha has,” he exclaimed. “Amazing.”
Uncle Roger eventually gave Patel’s fried rice a 6 out of 10 rating.
Netizens who waited for the collab found the video hilarious, while others loved how Patel responded to the backlash with humor.
The video had over 1.7 million views on YouTube as of press time.
