KUALA LUMPUR — Months after Singaporeans and Malaysians fought to lay claim to nasi lemak, the classic dish has popped up yet again in a new viral video.

In a one-minute clip first posted by Europe-based e-sports organisation OG Esports on its social media channels last Tuesday (Dec 26), several Dota 2 personalities are seen eating from nasi lemak packets — with the coconut milk-infused rice meal wrapped in a banana leaf and brown paper underneath the leaf.

The video first shows former Bosnian player Admir "lizZard" Salkanovic and French-Lebanese player Sebastien "Ceb" Debs digging in with their disposable spoons.

The camera then pans to former American player Jake "SirActionSlacks" Kanner, who appears to think for a moment before using the banana leaf to wrap the rice in a ball and stuff it into his mouth.

In the background, audience members begin tittering as Mr Kanner struggles with the leaf.

"What?" he asks through his mouthful of rice, seemingly perplexed. "Did I eat a leaf?"

As Mr Debs and Malaysian player Chai "Mushi" Yee Fung look over in curiosity, Mr Kanner continues: "I thought (the leaf) was real!"

The studio erupts into laughter as he pulls bits of banana leaf out of his mouth.

Mr Chai then apologises for not "explaining the leaf" while Mr Kanner continues to emit muffled yells with his mouth full, questioning the presence of the leaf.

Calming down from his laughter, Mr Debs tells him: "The leaf is there to support the food."

"Well, I thought that was what the paper did!" Mr Kanner retorts.

"Nooo, you're not even supposed to eat that," Mr Debs says. "Even I know this, dude."

The video has reached 360,900 views on TikTok and 488,100 views on X (formerly Twitter) as of Wednesday afternoon.

Malaysian social media users were equal parts amused and horrified by how he was eating the nasi lemak, with the top comment on Instagram reading: "Laughing in Malaysian, hahahahaha."

One X user write: "The way I gasped so loud in this Grab (ride), the driver thought he (went the) wrong way."

A YouTube user suggested that the American might have "thought it was a burrito", while others likened it to "eating (an) onigiri", which is Japanese rice balls covered in part by a sheet of seaweed.

One X user mused: "When you think nasi lemak bungkus (packet) is onigiri and seaweed."

Another quipped: "Sir, please enjoy the salad that comes with our nasi lemak."

A TikTok user joked in Malay: "So all this time we have been eating nasi lemak wrong apparently." 

Malaysian player Chai also joined in to tease him on Facebook, commenting: "Sir Action 'The Leaf Eater' Slacks."

In the original video, a session of OG's official podcast The Monkey Business Show streamed live from Kuala Lumpur on Dec 17, Mr Chai is seen handing out the packs of nasi lemak to the foreign hosts along with disposable cutlery.

Many viewers were even more tickled by the scene in the full video, which confirmed that Mr Kanner was the last to get his food and could be seen observing the other two hosts eating with their spoons — but went on to eat it his way instead.

As one Instagram user wrote: "Slacks took his time, watched Mushi eat and thought, 'I think I have to grab it with my whole hand and eat it'."

Others called the video a "nightmare" to watch, saying: "My ancestors are crying."

On YouTube, the clip remains the most replayed part of the one-hour podcast episode.