Outback Queensland Curry

Outback Queensland Curry

Typically the dish is curry and rice and often called "lamb curry." Very often you are eating curried mutton, not the more tender lamb. I watched my grandmother in Outback Queensland prepare curry and rice on the wood cook stove in the late 1940's. One of my assignments, as a nine-year old was to constantly stir the boiling white rice so it did not stick to the bottom of the saucepan. A curry dish was and is a staple in the sheep country of Outback Australia. The outback sheep were Merinos, prized for their wool, not their meat. As a result, the only sheep readily available for eating were those too old for shearing. The Outback cook faced a major challenge in transforming the mutton into an appetizing dish. To do this, the cooks, like my grandmother, chopped the mutton into into small pieces, used a massive amount of spices and simmered the the dish for a long time. The extensive use of fruits and vegetables in the following recipe is typical of curry dishes prepared in the tropics.

2 TBS of olive oil
1 green apple chopped and diced
2 cans of stewed or diced tomatoes, 15 oz. cans
1/4 cup of flour
1 can of pineapple pieces undrained, 15 0z. can
4 TBS of raisins
1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
1 TBS garlic, minced
2 chopped onions
1 banana sliced
1 TBS curry powder, I use Madras Curry powder
1 1/2 lbs. of chicken, lamb, mutton or beef cubed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
2 TBS lemon juice

Roll the cubed meat in flour and brown in a pan or dutch oven with the olive oil. Add the Worcestershire Sauce, garlic. Add onions and saute. Add rest of ingredients and bring to a slow boil while stirring. If mixture is too thick, I add a liquid, chicken broth or stout beer. Place in a covered casserole dish or Dutch Oven and simmer in the oven at 250 degrees for at least 2 hrs. Serve over a bed of rice.

 The Ram Traders website noted that curry is a very healthy spice mixture largely composed of turmeric. Turmeric is the source of  Curcumin among many other compounds. The other spices and herbs in curry powder, almost every one, are known from early times for improving mental functioning (then called simply "the braynes"). Curry powder offers a pleasant, easy way to add these vitally important substances to one's diet. A good teaspoon of curry powder (yes, the kind in the supermarket) per pound of meat in any recipe will make that dish into a mild "curry". Or, use in vegetable dishes. Or, simply keep curry powder at the table and sprinkle it lightly onto your food --- it is already roasted.

By 3000 B.C. turmeric, cardamom, pepper and mustard were harvested in India. The earliest known recipe for meat in spicy sauce with bread appeared on tablets found near Babylon in Mesopotamia, written in cuniform text as discovered by the Sumerians, and dated around 1700 B.C., probably as an offering to the god Marduk.

Time in the far Outback.

During high school vacations I earned great money as a roustabout picking up wool as the shearers did their work. The sheep station was west of Longreach Queensland and about as Outback as you can get.  Curry was often served. The money kept my Harley Davidson World War II motorcycle in gas for the rest of the year. The work was hard and gave me a great reason to finish high school.

A note of thanks regarding the motorcycle.




As a teenager growing up with an absent father, a neighbor, Fred Allen, served as "big brother." Fred was nationally known as a retired champion racing car driver. One day when I was having trouble getting to the two jobs I was holding after school and weekends, Fred said  that I needed a motor cycle to get around and asked if I could afford one. I said that the most I could afford was forty pounds (about $80.00) A few days later he visited with me and said he found a great bike, a Military Police bike from World War II. It would cost exactly 40 pounds. He delivered it the next day. I later figured out that the Harley Davidson 750 cc. in great condition cost a lot more, and Fred had made up the difference.

Noel Shore

Growing up in the Outback was a very adventurous time for a teenager. The swimming holes - the mountains to be climbed - the deadly snakes - the wild pigs - and so it went. I was most fortunate to have a dear friend to share the experiences - one Noel Shore. Noel's father Frank Shore was a "Navvy." The Navvys were an important part of the history of outback Queensland. The Queensland Government website reported on the life of a Navvy:

Constructing the railway network in Queensland was a major task. It took money, equipment, know-how and hard physical work.

"The might and muscle of thousands of men cut away hillsides, filled valleys, erected bridges, dug tunnels and laid sleepers and track.

Once each line was completed, the hard labour of men in small gangs maintained the track in good working order."

Frank Shore was a Navvy responsible for rail line maintenance for the steam trains traveling  to Springsure. This line led through a creek canyon. For Noel and I, one of our greatest experiences was to spend a day out with the Navvy team. The trip on the little motorized rail cart and the time spent exploring creeks and cliffs were adventures of a lifetime for us.

Aboriginal Cave Drawings

One of our greatest adventurous was the exploration of the ancient caves by creeks that were home to generations of aboriginals. We took this photo. While we were respectful, we did add a sign of our passing by inscribing our initials and the date. We did no damage to the existing artwork. It is my understanding that these caves and the aboriginal art work are now carefully preserved and protected. Noel and my initials are also preserved behind glass along with the aboriginal art.