the journey continues…

Honnali is a small town in Karnataka around 50km from Shimoga.”honnu” means gold in kannada. During the Vijayanagara Emperor’s time, people here used to sell gold on the street it seems.So the name Honnali .Honnali has many pilgrimage centers one among them is Shri Ragahavendra Swamy Mutt.
The mutt which is on the banks of River Tungabhadra is also known as Second Mantralaya.There is a interesting story behind this.When they wanted to do the pratistapane of the Brindavan [i.e. build this Mutt], they were coming in a procession to Honnali taking mruttika from Moola Brindavan,Mantralaya. Meantime an aged person, dressed in khavi came,went inside the Mutt premises and never came back.It is believed that Ravaru or Raghavendra Swamy was the one who came inside the Mutt and he still exists there.Hence the name “Dwiteeya Mantralaya”.

Its a very calm and quite place.River Tunga flows in front of the Mutt where you can take a nice bath.There is not much facilities for food and accommodation.We stayed in a small room of the Mutt itself.Below is the address and contact number of the Mutt.

Shri Raghvendra Seva Trust(R)
[Dwiteeya Mantralaya] [ದ್ವಿತೀಯ ಮಂತ್ರಾಲಯ]
Honnali,577 217,Davanagere District
Ph:958188-251494

Upma/Uppittu is easy to prepare. Usually I have seen people making it sticky.Making a tasty upma depends on the rava you choose. You should always choose bansi/ upma rava and should heat it slightly before cooking. Heating makes the rava little crispy which adds to the taste. I have put the recipe for capsicum upma.If you like vegetables then you can add all the vegetables like aloo,carrot,cabbage,peas and make vegetable upma also.

Ingredients
Rava [ Upma rava/Bansi rava] – 1 cup.
Oil – 5-6 tbsp
Turmeric Powder – 1 tbsp
Mustard – 1 spoon
Curry leaves – 8-10
Coriander leaves – ½ cup finely chopped
Tomato – 1
Onions -2
Capsicum – 1 [finely chopped]
Peas – ½ cup [optional]
Cabbage – ½ cup finely chopped [optional]
Potatoes – ½ cup finely chopped [optional]
Salt
Water – 1:3 ratio
Initially heat the rava in a pan and keep it aside.
Chop the potatoes in to small pieces and boil for 5 min with a pinch of salt.
In a pan,heat oil add turmeric powder,mustard,curry leaves.when the mustard starts to splutter add onions,tomatoes ,capsicum and semi boiled potatoes. Fry all. Make sure that capsicums are turned slightly golden brown in colour.Now add required amount of water and salt.When the water begins to boil,add rava.Lower the flame and allow it to cook slowly.Add chopped corianders and 2-3 tbsp of grated coconut for taste. Easy to prepare and a good breakfast.