Malaysian Prime Minister mocks MasterChef hosts after 'ignorant' chicken rendang criticism

MasterChef has come under fire by furious viewers, including ridicule from Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, after its presenters sent a contestant home because her chicken wasn’t ‘crispy’ enough.

During the most recent episode of the competitive culinary show, contestant Zaleha Kadir Olpin rustled up Malaysian dish chicken rendang.

The controversy arose when judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace criticised the finished dish because the chicken was not crispy enough and to their liking.

However, people – including the Malaysian PM – got angry because, as per the traditions of the Southeast Asian dish, it isn’t supposed to have a crispy skin at all and should be exactly how it was presented.

Malaysian Prime Minster Najib Razak tweeted about the incident, mocking the celeb chefs.

‘Where there are people eating crispy chicken ‘rendang’? #MalaysianFood’ he asked to his 4 million followers, following the debate over the BBC show.

Wallace, 53, said: ‘I like the rendang flavour, there’s a coconut sweetness. However, the chicken skin isn’t crispy. It can’t be eaten and all the sauce is on the skin so I can’t eat it.’

His comments were met with huge criticism that questioned why he didn’t know how the dish was meant to be presented.

Jahabar Sadiq, a Malaysian journalist and food writer responded to the show’s judge critique by branding their feedback as ‘ignorant’.

‘They clearly weren’t familiar with food from other parts of the world because if they were, they would have had the knowledge to know what real nasi lemak is,’ Sadiq told the BBC.

‘Crispy chicken? No. The meat has to be soft and that’s a result of hours of cooking…Many people associate chicken with being fried but there is no craft, no skill. But this is chicken rendang, not KFC so it all boils down to how the chef controls the spices and the flames. The amount of coconut milk is also key,’ he followed up with.

The rendang was served with nasi lemak, which bears special significance to Zaleha, who described the dish as a ‘childhood favourite’ and reminded her of when she brought her husband home to meet her mother who cooked them the meal.

‘There was a special stall outside my school that sold the best nasi lemak so I used to save up pocket money on Fridays,” she revealed to the show’s judges. ‘The dish is very special to me.’

But sadly the lack of crispiness didn’t save her from the judges’ wrath, as Zaleha was eliminated from the contest despite wowing the panel during earlier stages.

Torode, 52, described the rendang as a ‘mistake’, which didn’t help in viewers going easy on the hapless judges on social media.

The contestant expressed her sadness at being booted off the show by posting her dish on her Instagram account.

‘Gutted to be eliminated on #masterchefuk but I stand by my traditional way of cooking Nasi Lemak,’ she began.

‘Will not change it for the world. The memories of my amazing time at Masterchef kitchen will forever stays with me. Thank you so much for all your support and good wishes. As my friend said, what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger! Thank you again xxx’.

Catch MasterChef weeknights, from 8pm, on BBC One.

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