i am malaysian and personally i think indonesian food is not that hot and spicy. What made them hot is just the sauce. The food itself is not that hot.

i have been to bali, lombok, jogjakarta, surabaya, jakarta and bandung and i hardly find any food which is hot and spicy. In fact, in one instance, at some warong near magelang, we were having breakfast and we were not satisfied with the spicyness of the NasGor = nasi goreng ( fried rice ).

We even asked for a lot of chilli pepers. To be specific, malaysian call it “cili api” or “cili padi”. i am not sure what you guys calling them. That is why a lot of malaysian is suffering from stomach cancer when they get older.

anyway, i luv indonesian’s sambal terasi. Have not been tried the real minangkabau dishes. In malaysia, the minang dishes are known for its spicyness. Looking forward for a trip up north. cheers