Marrow, Coconut & Lemongrass Thai Soup

At Not In The Guidebooks, we believe the best travel memories are often made around the table – and with this fragrant, Thai-inspired soup, you can bring a taste of your travels home. This gourmet marrow, coconut and lemongrass soup comes straight from the kitchen of one of our brilliant local hosts, taught on one of our hands-on cookery experiences.

It’s fresh, quick to make, and packed with bold, tropical flavours — perfect for recreating that holiday feeling, spoon by spoon.

This recipe was taught to us by a local on one of our Thailand holidays – Bangkok, Ayutthaya and Kanchanaburi in 7 days.

This recipe Serves 4. This is the kind of dish you’ll often find bubbling away in traditional kitchens across Southeast Asia, whether served as a light lunch or the start of a flavourful feast.

Ingredients

• 1 can 450g coconut milk
• 2 lemon grass stalks
• 50g fresh ginger
• 2 onions
• 8 medium mushrooms
• 500g marrow
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tbs fish sauce
• 20g palm sugar
• 1 tbs lime juice
• 6 kaffir lime leaves
• 3 to 6 red chilli’s
• 200ml either chicken or vegetable stock
• fresh coriander for garnish

Method

1. Peel off the outer leaves of the lemon grass so you have just the soft inner white part and cut these into roughly 6cm lengths. Peel the ginger & chop it roughly. Pound the chopped ginger in a mortar and pestle to release the juices.

2. Then, heat the coconut milk in a saucepan and add the lemon grass, ginger, fish sauce and palm sugar, bringing the mixture to a boil before allowing it to simmer very gently for 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, slice the onions and crush the garlic. Cut the marrow into cubes around 2cm square, and slice the mushrooms.

4. Then, heat a wok or large frying pan, add a little vegetable oil and fry the onions for about a minute before adding the marrow & mushrooms. Continue to fry for another minute and then add the garlic. Take the entire wok off the heat just before the vegetables are completely cooked through.

5. Add the infused coconut milk to the vegetables, straining it through a sieve to remove the lemongrass and ginger. Add the stock (we use chicken stock but if you prefer you can use vegetable stock to have a vegetarian dish), lime juice, and roughly chopped chilli and bring back to the boil. Once it boils, turn off the heat and serve immediately, garnished with roughly chopped coriander.

Serving Suggestions

This is a quick easy soup full of fresh flavours, perfect for a summer lunch.

The chef recommends creating and serving this soup immediately retain the freshness of flavour and the ideal texture of the marrows.

Want to learn dishes like this in person? Take a look at our foodie holidays and cooking experiences — and stir up your next adventure.