I tried a two-ingredient pancake recipe which took 10 minutes, delivered 14g of protein and tasted delicious

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.