Stews have been around almost nearly as long as humans have been cooking. All you need is a vessel to hold your ingredients and water and a means of heating that vessel. It can be as simple as a leather bag with stones heated in a fire dropped into it. So stews were almost certainly prepared during the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, if not earlier. Once you have clay or metal pots you can prepare stews next to or set directly over a fire. Stews are low-maintenance cookery, generally not requiring that the cooking pot be observed continuously. The slow cooking is also ideal for tenderizing tougher cuts of meat (neck, shin, tail etc). As these also tend to be the most flavoursome parts of animals, this also means that stews can be extremely flavourful. Stews also pair well with the local staple: potatoes, rice, bread, yams, cassava etc.

Even in hunter-gatherer societies stews are useful in that the slow cooking can make the most of tough meat and it can be combined with foraged grains, leafy greens, nuts and starchy tubers to yield a flavourful, low maintenance and nutritious meal. With the advent of agriculture almost all grains are amenable to stewing and combining grains and legumes in a stew provides a ready way to gain all the essential amino acids that humans (particularly children) require.

The boiling process of making stews also helps sterilize the ingredients, killing harmful bacteria and viruses. It can also help neutralize harmful chemicals, such as the cyanogenic compounds in bitter cassava and helps reduce bitterness in leafy greens, making the food both safer to eat and more palatable. The addition of flavouring ingredients (fruit, spices, herbs) during the cooking process can also alter the flavours of stews, making them more palatable and more appealing. This is particularly the case when adding components with high umami content (certain fish, seaweed, cruciferous vegetables, beans, soy sauce, mushrooms etc).

It is little wonder that, taken globally, the list of stews presented on this site is a long one.

Some stews border on soups and the definition of whether a dish is a soup or a stew. A good example of this is Welsh cawl which can be served with more liquid as a soup or can be thickened as a stew and served with bread and/or potatoes. Most curries, due to their long, slow cooking and blend of ingredients can also be considered a subtype of stew.

Pretty much every culture on earth has a classic stew that's a major part of its cultural culinary repertoire. I have viewed and collected recipes for many of these on my travels. These and other classic stews from around the world are collected and presented here.

The alphabetical list of all the stew recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 2485 recipes in total:

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Khumbi Aloo (Mushroom and Potato Curry)      Origin: India	Kotor Bay Stewed Fish      Origin: Montenegro	Lagman      Origin: Turkmenistan
Kibeba (Cassava and Cuttlefish Stew)      Origin: Mozambique	Koumrangan      Origin: Chad	Lahm Lhalou (Lamb Stew with Prunes)      Origin: Algeria
Kid Goat Korma      Origin: Anglo-Indian	Koumrangan avec Patte d'Arachide (Koumrangan with Peanut Paste)      Origin: Chad	Lahma Mu'assaga (Savoury Minced Lamb)      Origin: Egypt
Kig ha Farz (Meat with Stuffing)      Origin: France	Kouneli Stifado (Rabbit Stew)      Origin: Greece	Lakhou bissap      Origin: Senegal
Kilmeny Kail      Origin: Scotland	Koupepia (Stuffed Vine Leaves)      Origin: Cyprus	Laksa      Origin: Malaysia
Kingklip and Prawn Biryani      Origin: South Africa	Koushari (Lentils, Macaroni and Rice in Oil)      Origin: Egypt	Lale Mamoe (Samoan Lamb Curry)      Origin: Samoa
Kiribati Coconut Crab Curry      Origin: Kiribati	Koushry (Rice with Lentils)      Origin: Egypt	Lamb and Cabbage Rolls      Origin: Britain
Kishke (Stuffed Derma)      Origin: Uzbekistan	Kozi Ishtu (Keralan Chicken Ishtu)      Origin: India	Lamb Curry with Winter Vegetables and Spinach      Origin: Fusion
Kishmish Vashli Tolma      Origin: Armenia	Kpalugu Beef      Origin: Ghana	Lamb Cutlet Casserole      Origin: Britain
Kissra be Omregayga      Origin: Sudan	Krain Krain (Jute Leaf Stew)      Origin: Sierra Leone	Lamb Dhan Saag      Origin: India
Kjötsúpa (Icelandic Lamb Stew)      Origin: Iceland	Kuah Kuning (Yellow Gravy Soup)      Origin: Papua	Lamb Jalfrezi      Origin: India
Kjufteta Po Cirpanski (Meatballs and Potatoes)      Origin: Bulgaria	Kuba (Mushroom and Barley Casserole)      Origin: Czech	Lamb Julienne with Crispy Dumplings      Origin: Britain
Kobi Bhaji      Origin: India	Kubani (Dried Apricot Dessert)      Origin: India	Lamb Madras      Origin: India
Kobi Keema (Cabbage and Minced Meat Curry)      Origin: India	Kuka Soup      Origin: Nigeria	Lamb Rogan Josh      Origin: India
Kobi Sabji (Cabbage Sabji)      Origin: India	Kuku (Chicken)      Origin: Kenya	Lamb Stew with Chestnuts and Pomegranates      Origin: Georgia
Kodoyo (Fish with Baobab Leaves)      Origin: Togo	Kuku Paka (Chicken-coconut Curry)      Origin: East Africa	Lamb Stifado      Origin: Cyprus
Koenigsberger Klopse (German Meatballs)      Origin: Germany	Kuku wa Nazi (Chicken with Coconut Milk)      Origin: Kenya	Lamb Tagine Pie      Origin: Fusion
Kohl Westfalisch (Westphalian Cabbage II)      Origin: Germany	Kukulu Musamma      Origin: Sri Lanka	Lamb Tagine with Artichokes      Origin: Morocco
Kokam Fish      Origin: India	Kulu'wa (Eritrean Chopped Meat)      Origin: Eritrea	Lamb with New Potatoes and Coriander      Origin: Ireland
Koko na Nyama (Meat with Koko)      Origin: Central African Republic	Kurmanash      Origin: India	Lamb with Red Wine and Chorizo      Origin: Britain
Kokum Kari (Kokam Curry)      Origin: India	Kuru Fasulye      Origin: Turkey	Lamb with Spinach      Origin: Mauritius
Kolkas (Turkish Cypriot Chicken and Taro Stew)      Origin: Northern Cyprus	Kuurdak (Stewed Meat, Onions and Potatoes)      Origin: Kyrgyzstan	Lancashire Hot Pot      Origin: England
Kolokasi (Greek Cypriot Taro with Pork)      Origin: Cyprus	Kyazangi Kaukswe (Rice Noodles with Curry)      Origin: Myanmar	Lapin au Cidre (Rabbit in Cider)      Origin: France
Kolokitha Yiemista me Rizi (Courgette Stuffed with Rice)      Origin: Cyprus	Kyet tha Kar la Thar Hin (Chicken and Squash Curry)      Origin: Myanmar	Lapin au Vin Blanc (Rabbit with White Wine)      Origin: Gabon
Komprek Eromba (Water Dropwort Eromba)      Origin: India	Kyrgyz Plov      Origin: Kyrgyzstan	Laska      Origin: Malaysia
Kondré de Porc (Kondré of Pork)      Origin: Cameroon	Lækker mørbradgryde (Pork Tenderloin Casserole)      Origin: Denmark	Le Canard au tangor et à la Vanille (Clementine and Vanilla Duck)      Origin: Reunion
Konkoé Turé Gbéli (Smoked Catfish Stew with Vegetables)      Origin: Guinea	L'Ham Lahlou (Sweet Lamb for Ramadan)      Origin: Algeria	Le cassoulet de la mer à la bretonne (Breton seaside cassoulet)      Origin: France
Kontomire Stew (Cocoyam Leaf Stew)      Origin: Ghana	La Bandera Dominicana (The Dominican Flag)      Origin: Dominican Republic	Le Goundja (Fish with Aubergines and Cassava Leaves)      Origin: Central African Republic
Koozy (Leg of Lamb)      Origin: Iraq	La Bouille du Tchad (Chadian Porridge)      Origin: Chad	Le Kondré      Origin: Cameroon
Kopto à l'arachide (Kopto in Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Niger	La Capitaine Sangha (Nile Perch with Red Sauce)      Origin: Mali	Le Me Tsolola      Origin: Comoros
Korean-flavoured Lamb Shanks with Swede and Potato Mash      Origin: Fusion	La Salsa de Cacahuete (Peanut Sauce)      Origin: Equatorial Guinea	Le Ndolé Camerounais (Cameroonian Ndolé)      Origin: Cameroon
Korean-inspired Pollock Stew with Gochujang and Wild Greens      Origin: Korea	Lablabi      Origin: Tunisia	Le Poulet à la Crème de Vanille (Chicken with Vanilla Sauce)      Origin: Reunion
Koshari (Lentils, Pasta and Rice)      Origin: Egypt	Laganophake (Lentil Stew)      Origin: Roman
Kosksu bil-Ful (Couscous with Broad Beans)      Origin: Malta	Lagman      Origin: Kyrgyzstan

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