For the spicy peppers, garlic, and coconut flavors, I recomment Gulai. Got this recipe from a lady who is, in fact, from Indonesia--she married an American, one of my DH's co-workers. It's very tasty and you can cut up a lot of the ingredients beforehand for quick cooking. I love the flavor of lemon grass in curry. (I substitute serrano chiles for the thai ones when I cannot get them.)

*****
Mrs. McEntire's Gulai (Indonesian Curry) Recipe

1/3 c Oil
2 Onion
3 Thai chile
2 Garlic clove
2 lb Chicken, beef, or pork, cut up
Ginger, fresh; 3/4" knob
Lemon grass root, 1/2" knob
1 Lemon grass, stem
2 med/lg tomatoes
8 Macadamia nut
1/2 ts Cardamom, ground
1/2 ts Cumin powder
1/2 ts Turmeric
1/4 ts Fennel powder
1 Cinnamon stick; 2"
4 Cloves, whole
Salt; to taste
Pepper, black; to taste
4 c Coconut milk

Chop the onions, chiles, ginger, lemon root and lemon grass. Crush the garlic and grind the macadamia nuts. Skin the tomatoes and cut the flesh into small dice.
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, chiles and garlic and saute until the onion becomes translucent. Then add the meat, ginger, lemon root, lemon grass and tomato and cook for another three minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the spice powders, cinnamon stick and cloves and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to the boil, stirring constantly, then lower heat and allow to simmer until the meat is very tender.
*****

For the tamarind, coconut, spicy peppers, etc., I recommend Panang Curry, it's our favorite curry to get at Thai restaurants, we're totally addicted to it. When I make it at home I just kinda fake it as I go, generally combining the recipe on the back of the red curry paste bottle and the on the back of the bag of frozen thai stir fry veggies. (yes, I know you're only supposed to go "fresh" with Thai, but sometimes speed is of the essence to the time-managemnt impared, aka, me)

Another suggestion:
Having a condiment tray with some flatbread or hors d'oeuvres kind-of-bread could make the meal a little extra special--something to nibble on (and feed each other) as you're waiting for the meal to finish simmering or whatever.

For a pure cilantro fix, I make up the cilantro chutney in my Indian curries cookbook It's my secret weapon for my outrageously good chili (throw it in at the last minute into the pot). It's fantastic on poppadums, nan, or any other kind of flatbread. An Indian-style condiment tray usually has cilantro chuntey, mango chutney, and a chile sauce of some kind. Or, you could use different kinds of salsas with flatbread or corn chips. I love salsa verde made with tomatillos. The chutneys or salsas could be made a day or two ahead of time.

Let us know how it goes!

Anhata
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