It just demanded variation. Make it shine in a different light. I’m talking about my favourite ever recipe for supremely thick and fluffy pancakes. When I wrote that post, I found it hard to deliver the goods without feeling as if nothing I typed could truly justify how impressed I was with the outcome. The same may be said for these.

I modified the base batter a little, added matcha powder to half of it, and incorporated mashed banana into the wet ingredients. Result: Fantabulous, and that’s saying something, because I hate that word but somehow its gaudy talkshow-esque nature fits the bill here.

I talked enough about how wonderfully soft and fluffy and phenomenal these pancakes are (click the link above!!), so enough talk, more action now.

Matcha and Vanilla Banana Pancakes (makes 10-11 medium-sized pancakes)

Ingredients

188g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour

1 tbsp white sugar

1 banana, mashed

2 heaping tsp green tea (matcha) powder

generous pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg

50g unsalted butter (slightly less than 4 tbsp)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp honey

240ml (1 cup) milk of choice

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt and leavening agents). In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter in a microwave and set it aside, letting it cool for a couple of minutes. In another medium bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla, honey, mashed banana and melted butter.

For this recipe which makes both vanilla and matcha pancakes, both the dry and wet mixes must be halved. My dry mix totalled to 210g, so I put half of that (105g) into a separate empty bowl. To one of the dry mix bowls, whisk in the matcha powder. Do the same for the wet mix (I weighed that too and found that half of the wet mix totalled to 200g, however only 180g of the liquid mixture needed to be added to the dry in order to achieve the perfect consistency). You should have 4 bowls– 2 dry and 2 wet, with one of the dry mix bowls containing the matcha powder. Pour the wet mixes into the respective dry mix bowls, and stir slowly with a metal or wooden spoon until justt combined, which means there will still be a few lumps, but no more streaks of flour. The batter will be thick and somewhat lumpy.

Preheat your pan on medium heat and ready some butter. You know the pan is hot enough when you flick a little water onto its surface and there’s a clear sizzle. At that point, generously butter the pan and ladle around a quarter cup (you might not need all of it) of batter. Shape if needed to form a nice circle. Wait for just a few little craters to form on the surface before flipping, which will take a couple of minutes. I didn’t have to wait for bubbles to pop before flipping; the batter is thicker than usual and there’s no need to wait. Flip the pancakes when you notice the edges stiffening a little, or when you can slide your spatula whole underneath the bottom of the pancake. It will rise a little upon flipping, as if that action gives it life, and hence, breath. The surface should have that familiar brown mosaic. Once the second side is done (will take no more than half a minute, usually), let cool on a paper towel or in a warm oven. As mentioned above, these freeze wonderfully, so you can make a whole batch, have one or a couple and stash the rest in a ziploc bag in the freezer. Et voila.