Traditionally cooked in a tonir, a built-in underground clay oven, dzhash is a tomato-based stew that can be made with either meat or legumes, but always includes vegetables. The stew is often generously seasoned with a variety of spices.

There are numerous versions of this stew, some of them even popular in the neighboring Turkey, such as the signature dish from Gaziantep, made with meat, summer squash, mint, and lemon juice, or the wedding stew that's prepared in Marash, consisting of meat, pumpkin, and chickpeas as the main ingredients.