Photo: Screenshot of Nigel Ng's reaction video

A reaction video by a Malaysian comedian to an April 2019 BBC Food program video on how to make egg fried rice went viral on Chinese social media over the weekend, with the netizens saying they were "shocked" at some of the recipe's steps. 

The dated video tutorial featuring BBC presenter Hersha Patel stunned many Chinese viewers as the host neglected to first wash the uncooked rice. 

"The video shows us a good example on how to infuriate Asian people," netizen Heyetietie wrote on Bilibili, a Chinese video sharing website, in a post that had 586 likes. 

What further fueled viewers' frustration was when Patel later used a strainer to drain water from the semi-cooked rice, which she then washed under the tap.

"If my mom knew that I cook rice without washing it, then added so much water and rinsed the semi-cooked rice using tap water, she would definitely tie me up and beat me with a heavy stick," another Bilibili post, which received 1,060 likes, reads. 

"I finally understand what it feels like when Italian people see pizza with pineapple on it," a post on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo says. 

The original cooking video was put under the social media spotlight after UK-based Malaysian comedian Nigel Ng reacted to it in stunned amazement in a video posted to YouTube on July 8. 

"The cooking methods demonstrated in the program are kind of disrespectful toward Asian culture," a netizen whose name goes by Huyen posted on Facebook. "I can't believe they can be that short of knowledge."

Another post by Sreehari Sreedharan reads "Washing rice before cooking and after it's cooked are two different things. I haven't seen washing cooked rice before."

Egg fried rice is considered a typical Asian dish, but the cooking methods tend to vary from region to region depending on people's preferences. 

"People might have different ways to cook the dish, but this is very unconventional in terms of rice cooking," a post on social media platform 9gag reads. 

However, a few netizens who claimed they were from South Asia said that washing rice after it's cooked is done by some families there.