Halloween savoury treats

Here are few things I made for dinner yesterday to celebrate Halloween. This is such a fun festival and there is no end to what you can do if you are creative. You can actually play with your food and come up with spooky, gooey, scary stuff — just let your imagination run wild! I used very simple ingredients which I had at home. It is better if you have some food colouring, especially orange, black and you can always use red ketchup for blood! So I made Good Witch Hats with mashed potatoes, Bloody Fingers with fried potato fingers, Eyeballs and Devil Bits with boiled eggs. Besides that, I made a Grumpy Stuffed Red Bell Pepper served on Orange Rice and Spinach Greens. Do create your own fun appetisers or get the kids to help you! Happy Halloween!

Bloody Fingers
Prep time: 15 min Cooking time: 15 min Serves: 2

Ingredients:
Potatoes: 2 large
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:
1) Cut potato wedges like french fries but round off on end to make them look like fingers. Make incisions on them with a small knife to create nails and knuckles.
2) Boil them in hot water for 5 min. Drain.

3) Sprinkle salt and deep fry them.
4) Serve with ketchup to make it look like bloody fingers!

Eye Balls and Devil Bits
Prep time: 25 min Making time: 5 min Serves: 2

Ingredients:
Eggs: 2 large
Olive or tiny Brinjal slices for the eye
Red pepper pieces for Devil horns
Salt and pepper to taste (you can add more spices of your choice, like oregano, parsley etc)
Mayo/cheese spread: 1 tbsp (optional)

Method:
1) Boil eggs and keep them aside to cool.
2) Cut olives or a tiny round piece of a brinjal/eggplant to make the iris.
3) Take the boiled egg and cut them in half. You can scoop out the yolk and mash them with some mayo, cheese spread and spices, then put them back in the boiled egg white shell. Or leave the yolk in the egg white shell and sprinkle the spices, seasoning on top of it.
4) Put the olive or brinjal pieces to make the eyeballs and stick red pepper pieces to make devil horns.

Good Witch Hats
Prep time: 20 min Making time: 10 min Serves: 2

Ingredients:
Potatoes: 2 Large
Butter: 2 tbsp
Salt and pepper to taste
Cheese spread: 2 tbsp (optional)
Ketchup: 1 tbsp (optional)

Method:
1) Boil potatoes in a saucepan with some salt till soft.
2) Mash them, add salt if needed, pepper and fold in cheese spread.

3) Put in piping bag and create shapes of your choice. I made witch hats by first making a ring and then squeezing out the mashed potatoes while lifting my hand gradually upwards. It creates a wrinkly uneven texture.

4) Pour some ketchup if you want.

Grumpy Stuffed Red Bell Pepper
Prep time: 10 min Baking time: 30 min Serves: 2

Ingredients:
Red bell pepper: 2
Chopped carrots: 1/3 cup
Chopped onions: 1/3 cup
Chopped sausage (optional): 1
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Grated cheddar cheese: 1/3 cup
Spinach greens (optional)
Salt to taste

Method:
1) Cut the top of the bell pepper and keep aside. Scoop out the seeds.
2) Carve eyes and a mouth on it with a small knife.

3) Saute the vegetables and meat pieces with the spices and seasonings for 5 min.

4) Stuff the pepper with the filling and sprinkle grated cheese on top.

5) Put the top back on it like a lid. Smear some oil on the pepper and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 min.
6) Serve on some spinach greens and rice.

Orange Rice
Prep time: 5 min Cooking time: 15 min Serves: 2

Ingredients:
Plain rice: 1 1/2 cups
Orange food colour or red and yellow food colour
Salt to taste
Oil: 1 tsp

Method:
1) Wash rice and add a few drops of orange food colour.

2) Steam it, boil it or put it in a microwave to cook the rice.
3) Serve with stuffed bell pepper.