The banana-leaf package containing food is secured with lidi seumat (a small nail made from the central ribs of coconut leaves) and then steamed or grilled on charcoal.

The cooking technique employing banana leaf as the wrapper is widely distributed throughout Indonesia and it is known by many names in several regional languages: pais in Sundanese, brengkesan in Javanese, brengkes in Palembang, pelasan in Javanese-Osing, palai in Minangkabau, and payeh in Acehnese.

In Palembang, the dish pepes tempoyak is well known, which is a steamed fermented durian paste in a banana leaf container.

Pepes is made by mixing descaled and gutted fish or any type of food with a mixture of spices including salt, chilli, shallots, garlic, turmeric, ginger, lemongrass, curry leaf, candlenut, tamarind, tomato, and lemon basil all wrapped in a banana leaf.

To make soft-boned fish pepes, the method using pressure cooker or prolonged cooking time is employed.