Nasi bakar refer to steamed rice seasoned with spices and ingredients and wrapped in banana leaf secured with lidi semat and later grilled upon charcoal fire. The burned banana leaf produced a unique aroma upon the rice. The banana leaf package is opened upon consumption. It is a relatively newly developed Indonesian dish around the early 2000s, probably derived from nasi timbel rice wrapped in banana leaf.
There are many variants of nasi bakar according to its ingredients, such as fried chicken, empal gepuk (fried beef), anchovy, peda fish, milkfish, salted fish, shrimp, mushroom, tempeh, tofu, salted duck egg etc.