Outside Jakarta, nasi kebuli is mainly popular in regions with significant population of Arab Indonesians, such as West Java, Banten, Surakarta, Surabaya, Gresik and Banyuwangi.

The word pilaf, palau or palaw simply means a rice dish cooked with a seasoned broth.

One distinction is the presence of shredded carrots and perhaps grapes in the Middle-east or Afghan version of Kebuli.

The goat meat is later cooked and mixed with sauteed spice mixture in a clarified butter (often with ghee, locally known as minyak samin).

The spice mixture is made from ground garlic, shallot, ginger, black pepper, clove, coriander, caraway, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and ghee.