Malaysians, Singaporeans and Indonesians were united in throwing shade at the United Kingdom in April 2018.

Rendang crispy my ass 🇲🇾+🇮🇩+🇸🇬👊👊👊🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/QLW5cNq23e

— Mothership.sg (@MothershipSG) April 3, 2018

Crispy rendang fiasco

This was after judges on MasterChef UK said "crispy rendang" was a thing on the reality cooking competition.

This resulted in Malaysian contestant Zaleha Kadir Olpin getting eliminated from the season's cooking contest.

The Bristol-based cook served the nasi lemak dish the way her mother traditionally made it, but failed to impress judge Gregg Wallace as it did not come with crispy chicken rendang skin.

Wallace’s comments unleashed a torrent of criticism and ridicule from Southeast Asians accustomed to eating rendang, including several public figures such as Mahathir Mohamad, then prime minister Najib Razak and even the British High Commissioner to Malaysia.

Cook book out

But things have since looked up for the Kuantan-born cook.

A year later, Zaleha is back and has launched her maiden cookbook, My Rendang Isn’t Crispy.

Zaleha announced the book's launch on Facebook on Sunday, May 12, 2019.

“I cannot tell you how excited I am feeling right now! From months of hard work to finally being able to hold it in my hands I just hope you will enjoy and appreciate it,” she wrote.

The collection of Zaleha’s favourite Malaysian dishes will be launched in Asia on July 1 and on Sept. 16 in the UK.

“To my Asia followers check out my story highlight to order yours online from Marshall Cavendish Singapore. I will update more details soon,” Zaleha wrote.