The St. Anthony's Girls High School Chutney Sandwich

Author Notes

How many of us wax eloquent & go over the moon when reminiscing about school cafeteria Food??.. I rest my case.
There were 2 items on my school canteen (as we used to call the Cafeteria) that still evoke a pavlovian response simply by their mere mention. One was a curry with dried peas served over a slice of bread. The flavor of the Ragda, as it was known still remains elusive. The Other was a chutney sandwich made with cilantro and garlic.

I was always in a state of terrified awe of the Canteen 'aunty'. A bustling forceful lady, she really knew how to deal with hordes of squealing girls with an iron fist when they descended upon her little set up en masse at 10.01 a.m every day without fail. (picture this: 6 classes, 4 divisions with about 60 girls in each division. Even Assuming that only 10 % of the kids needed to buy their recess snack.. you do the math!)
Getting a good serving of Canteen food was a 'survival of the fittest' thing. The faster you ran, the better the chance at snagging the sandwiches which were stacked up high in a huge aluminum container. It was a 'Soup Nazi' kind of transaction, you handed her the appropriate amount of money and she thrust the sandwiches into your palm with adequate force to dislodge you to the periphery so the next kid could get her share.
Not much room for negotiating change, or pausing to make your selection. But those sandwiches were 'oh so worth it'!
I have no idea what she used for the chutney (most likely soured Yogurt) , but I recently stumbled upon a serendipitously close flavor profile to that awesome chutney. Needless to say, once I made it, I did not stop until I ran out of sliced bread! —Panfusine