Which spices in particular make Indian food so spicy?!
Answers: I love spicy food, but don't know what to add to my food besides black pepper or hot sauce.
Take a look at this site; I think you will find it interesting and it will give you some great ideas for spicy seasoning. I use a Garam Marsala to make my curry dishes hotter along with lots of fresh Ginger.
http://www.indianmirror.com/cuisine/cuis...
Cumin, curry, coriander, cardamon or turmeric.
Curries, hot paprika, hot, dried red chili peppers, cayenne...
the base for mostly all the indian foods are;
garlic
ginger
jalepenos
onions
tomatoes
THESE GO INTO EVERYTHING!
thats why, minus the tomatoes indian foods are hot or spicy because the base of them are mainly these ingredients,but to make things hotter or give it an extra kick try powedered red chili pepper!
for some recipies try this;
http://food.indif.com/
cury
not really answering your question but the below comment about making your food spicy you should look into all those chili's at the Hispanic market or Asian market i personally make my own hot sauce with Habanero chili's lime mustard garlic and some other secret stuff and this last me usually the whole year and i put it in almost every thing i want HOT :)
When you say spicy, I assume you mean hot--not just containing lots of "spices."
Indian food gets most of it's "heat" from chiles and pepper, but some things like ginger and garlic can be "hot" too if they're crushed rather than chopped (in the case of garlic), or if a lot is used particularly if added late in cooking so they don't cook for a long time.
There are all kinds of 'hot sauces" made from chiles, and many sauces have those things already in them. "Curries" are just meat and or veggie dishes made with lots of spices in a sauce, but can have more or less heat in them depending on how much of the above things have been added, and when.
HTH,
Diane B.