Mexican-style Halloween feast

I’ve used sesame blue-corn chips with this recipe not only for their dramatic colour but also their sweet nutty flavour. They are higher in protein than yellow corn chips and you can find them in the health-food section in supermarkets or at specialty food stores and health shops. Photography by Jani Shepherd / Gatherum Collectif.

These dark ice cubes add simple fresh flavour to lemonade and introduce a mysterious, slightly sinister, quality to your Day of the Dead gathering. Fill glasses with the black ice and top up with lemonade. Photography by Jani Shepherd / Gatherum Collectif.

This recipe is a salsa fresca, uncooked Mexican salad, using fresh ingredients marinated in lime juice, salt and olive oil. Photography by Jani Shepherd / Gatherum Collectif.

This salad is bright and bold with a haphazard array of edible flowers that even famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo would be proud of. Photography by Jani Shepherd / Gatherum Collectif.

To make a wonderful taco filling, rub the mix into inexpensive cuts of beef and cook long and slow until the meat fibres pull apart easily. Photography by Jani Shepherd / Gatherum Collectif.

Also called salsa fresca, this is an uncooked salad traditionally made with fresh tomatoes and almost always with coriander for flavour and fragrance. Photography by Jani Shepherd / Gatherum Collectif.

Our take on a Latin American sweet treat that’s often found at fairs and carnivals. Usually the dough is made from scratch but we’ve used ready-made flour tortillas to great success. Photography by Jani Shepherd / Gatherum Collectif.

This decadent cake is inspired by the life of artist Frida Kahlo and her sometimes turbulent relationship with her lover, Diego Rivera. It is dense and complex like Frida, with heat from chilli and spice. It’s the perfect, dramatic end to a Day of the Dead feast. Photography by Jani Shepherd / Gatherum Collectif.