Pancake day is upon us, and here at Fit&Well we'll be celebrating in earnest.
But this year I'm trading in my traditional recipe for a two-ingredient alternative from dietitian, nutritionist and Dietitian Fit founder Karine Patel.
"This recipe contains a portion of your five-a-day and it's simple and quick to make as there's no measuring necessary," says Patel.
"It provides a source of protein from the eggs, and you can serve them with a few spoons of Greek yoghurt for a further protein boost. There are no added sugars here either—the natural sugar from banana is used to sweeten the pancakes."
Having taken the recipe for a test drive yesterday, I also found the resulting pancakes were lighter, tastier and less messy to make than the usual flour-based alternative. Give it a go for yourself to see if you agree.
Ingredients
- One banana (ripe)
- Two eggs
- Five millilitres of extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Mash the banana in a bowl until smooth.
- Add two eggs and beat gently with a fork for about 30 seconds.
- Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat.
- Add 1/4 cup of the batter at a time to form pancakes, cooking for one to two minutes per side.
- Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon or your choice of topping. If you have a sweet tooth, you can add blueberries into the batter, or other chopped fruit.
The results
I'm no chef. Far from it. I once set fire to a microwave while making a baked potato. So I was pleased at how straightforward this recipe was; it required mashing, mixing, and frying, which even I could manage.
I found that the pancakes were a little more fragile than normal when being cooked, so they required extra care when flipping. Mine weren't particularly pretty when I'd finished, but I think that's a fault of the chef rather than the recipe.
They still tasted delicious, despite appearances. I don't have a particularly sweet tooth, but I found that these pancakes weren't cloying or overwhelming unlike chocolate chip varieties.
They were light and fluffy, and I felt less heavy than I would normally after eating my fill of standard pancakes.
