After 3 or 4 hours the steak and kidney stew can be thickened. I prefer Bisto gravy powder and mix two teaspoons of this with a teaspoon of flour into a paste in a cup. This can be stirred into the saucepan with a crumbled Oxo cube and about a third or a tin of Guinness. This can be left to simmer for another half an hour or so, but care has to be taken and regular stirring is recommended as this will now easily stick to the bottom of the pan.



Meanwhile the pastry can be made. Half fat to flour is the usual rule and I use a combination of butter and margarine for the fat. Slightly more than half fat seems to help the rolling out later. Something like White Flora would be better than butter as butter makes a very rich pastry, but I've never seen the white cooking fats in Thailand.

Once the fat and flour is well mixed, bind with a splash of ice cold water (if you have a baking hot kitchen like hours). Roll the pastry mix into a ball, and I find leaving this for half an hour in the fridge makes it more manageable. Pastry really doesn't like hot climates.