Stews and curries are both solid ingredients simmered in a seasoned liquid, yet they taste unmistakably different. The distinction lies in the order the sauce is built.
A stew builds its liquid from the solids
In most European stewing traditions the sauce is a by-product. Meat and vegetables are browned, liquid is added, and the sauce takes its character from what leaves the solids.
Thickening comes from collagen breaking down, from starch released by vegetables, or from flour added at the browning stage.
The flavour therefore develops over the whole cooking time and cannot be separated from the ingredients suspended in it.
A curry builds its sauce first
Curry-making generally constructs the sauce before the main ingredient joins it. Aromatics are cooked in fat, spices are bloomed, and a base is developed to a specific point.
That base has its own flavour and body before anything else is added, and the main ingredient is then cooked in an environment that is already complete.
Which is why the same base can carry vegetables, pulses or meat with the result still recognisable as a related dish.
Spice is treated as an ingredient, not a seasoning
Stews typically use aromatics in modest quantity as background, with herbs added late to preserve their volatility.
Curry traditions use ground spice in quantities large enough to contribute body and texture, not only aroma, which changes the sauce physically.
Cooking those spices in fat before liquid arrives is a structural step rather than a flourish, since undercooked ground spice tastes raw and dusty regardless of quantity.
Thickening mechanisms differ
Flour, reduction and gelatine dominate stew thickening, all of which act on the liquid after it is in the pot.
Curry sauces more often rely on puréed onion, ground nuts or seeds, coconut, dairy or pulses, which are part of the base rather than corrections applied later.
The consequence is that a thin stew is usually fixed by reduction, while a thin curry is more often fixed by building more base.
Serving context shapes the sauce
A stew is generally a complete dish, sometimes with bread or potatoes, and its sauce is sized to what the bowl contains.
A curry is normally one of several dishes eaten with rice or bread, so the sauce is concentrated enough to season a starch that arrives unseasoned.
That difference in intensity explains why a curry eaten alone can seem overwhelming while the same portion over rice reads as balanced.