I have had Indian food many, many times and yet a large number of people claim that it is spicy. I guess that is true in the purest sense of the word. They do use a large number of spices yet it still comes out rather bland and muddled. On the other hand, Thia food and Mexican food are actually a thrill to the senses due to their heat.
Am I missing something? Indian food always comes across as rather bland to me.
If you want spicy, try a phall or a vindaloo. But most Indian food, in my experience, is not hot for no purpose. Done properly, it’s a mix of flavors.
Try a Beef Vindaloo and get back to us. Specify that you want it “Hot” (or, as I said to the staff at an excellent Indian restaurant in Auckland once, “Make it the way you guys would have it.”) Totally different to the usual Chicken Tikka Masala or Lamb Korma most people associate with “Indian” food. 
While Indian food certainly ranges from bland to ultra-spicy, I think the “Indian food is really hot” meme came from Britain back in the days when there were fewer options for foreign food, and certainly no Mexican or Korean to compare it to. The British palate is a lot more sophisticated these days. I haven’t the faintest idea how to look up a cite for this, so I may well be wrong.
Huh. All of the Indian food I’ve ever had ranges from mildly spicy (about the mid range of the average Mexican place) to very spicy (above the top range of most American-oriented places) and it’s impossible to call any of it ‘muddled’. But I also associate Indian food with vegetarian/vegan food so it might be a regional thing.
I find that the spiciness varies alot from resteraunt to resteraunt. Sometimes they ask what level of spice you would like. Even if you say spicey, sometimes it doesn’t come spicey, but when it does have a napkin ready to wipe your brow. I think a lot of resteraunts tone it down for American tastes. There is nothing wrong with American tastes, but I like my Indian food to make me sweat.
I don’t think that spicey has to mean “hot.” I grew up in a home where the only spices were salt, pepper, cinnamon, whole cloves and nutmeg. When I had my own apartment, even tarragon tasted spicey to me.
I am a lover of spices, particularly those I associate with India that are easy to find here: tumeric, coriander, cumin, curries, saffron – I’m leaving out some basics. Some curries can be very hot depending on what they contain. They are a mixture.
I will add these spices or a combination of them to just about anything that is fairly plain (cottage cheese with a little mayo, for example). That spices it up quite a bit, but it doesn’t necessarily make it “hot.” Ever had saffron ice cream? Out of this world!
I have read that foods in Northern India are by tradition not as “hot” as foods served in Southern India.
Spicy means “full of spice”. It’s not hot, per se, though I certainly don’t think it’s bland! It’s flavorful!
I always order Indian food spicy (dishes that are supposed to be spicy, of course), and they usually oblige. I definitely wouldn’t call it bland. I don’t associate it with vegetarian food, though (I mean, I see how it *could *be), but I live in Alabama, so it probably wouldn’t be too popular serving vegetarian cuisine only. One thing that always amazes me is people that can’t take anything hotter than the most mild salsas and spices. Come on, you can’t even *taste *those!
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
ETA: Here they ask if you want it mild, medium, hot, or Indian hot. I always go with Indian hot. 
I agree. My post can be your cite.
The OP is defining “spicy” as being “spicy hot” - yes?
Whereas to me, “spicy” just means “full of spices” - so by saying “They do use a large number of spices” he acknowleges that it is in fact “spicy” - by that (and I suspect the ‘normal’) definition.
I would say, perhaps the Indian dishes round Shagnasty’s neck of the woods are bland and muddled, but no damn way are they where I live. We all know that “Indian” food tends to be tailored to the palate of its locale; here we like stuff with complex spices and lots of chilli. Not saying our version is particularly authentic, but “bland” is about the least appropriate adjective I could think for that particular cuisine.
Speaking of which…
I only recently started eating Indian food, there is a pretty good Indian buffet that just opened near my work. None of the food, even that labeled spicy, is very hot. Is there a condiment that is used commonly with Indian food to increase the hot factor? I like spicy, but would not have a clue what to request.
In the U.S. the default definition for “spicy” is spicy hot. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used to mean full of spices. That would be “spiced.”
There are huge variations in the spiciness - heat - level of foods at Indian restaurants here. You can order mild, medium or spicy at any American restaurant, but in some medium is mild and in some medium is spicy and you can never know which is going to be which until you taste the food. The last one I was in mild made me break out in sweat.
I like Indian food normally because of the spice and sauce mixtures that ensure that it won’t be bland. It’s much tastier than most other cuisines. But it is also often very very hot and spicy. The two scales are different. But with each restaurant - and often each chef at a restaurant - using a different level of spices and heat, it’s impossible to generalize about what Indian restaurants are “like.”
I had goat curry last night that made my tongue and lips numb and that’s pretty typical in my experience. Bland is not a word I would ever use to describe the cuisine.
I have had Indian food in England and the US and it is generally much spicer (i.e. hotter) in England. But even in the US I would not call it bland - I find Mexican food generally much more bland. Maybe you just have bad Indian restaurants up there.
Yes, if you’re eating at an Indian restaurant, they usually assume that non-Indians prefer “non-spicy” (or even “bland”) food. Also, it depends on what kind of Indian cuisine you’ve tried. India is a big country with many different styles of cooking.
First off, don’t go for the buffet. It is going to be toned down for wimpy American palates*, most likely. Order off the menu, and ask your server to recommend a hot and spicy dish. You will probably have to specify “not ‘American’ hot, but really hot” or something because sometimes they don’t believe you. I love hot food, with Thai and Indian being up at the top of my list of favorites, but I usually have to convince them to make it spicy enough. If they have a star rating, such as 1-3 stars, with 3 being the spiciest, I tell them to make it a 5. I think that they probably get a lot of Americans who can handle the “Fire sauce” at Taco Bell and so they think they can handle spicy saying they want 3 stars, and then sending their food back because they can’t eat it, so they tone it way down unless you really convince them that you mean it. If you don’t need a box of Kleenex at the table, you didn’t order it spicy enough!
*this is in no way meant to imply that all Americans have wimpy palates
To echo what others have already said Vindaloos are HOT, HOT, HOT. The only painfully hot food I’ve ever eaten. It was an experience, not entirely unpleasant but messy!
Yes, they’re afraid that you’ll get angry at the food being so hot and send it back. “No one ever got rich overestimating the intelligence of the American people.”
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
Oh I have to relate an anecdote. This is from one of the Dopefests… I want to say it was in NY? But I really can’t remember and the Nyquil isn’t helping with that either. AAAaaanyway. About a dozen of us met at an Indian restaurant for dinner. I ordered what I wanted (don’t remember what it was) and asked for it to be made hot. When it arrived it was not spicy at all. I (as politely and diplomatically as I could) told the waiter that it wasn’t very hot, and would it be much trouble to take it back to the kitchen to add a little more kick? So he took it away. As he left, I told the others at the table that I didn’t think spicy food was hot enough if it didn’t make you cry. In hindsight, I think the waiter overheard this and took it as a challenge. What he brought me back… well, let’s just say that I’m glad I didn’t spill any on the floor, as it would have killed some poor Chinese civilian once it finished eating its way through the earth’s core. Those brave enough at the table tried some, and I am pretty sure I finished it (or at least most of it) just because I felt like I had to*… but damned if that wasn’t some of the hottest food I’ve ever eaten!
*whoever came up with the concept of ‘saving face’ needs to be shot.