Food Snob® wrote:

>
> "4 ingredients (and none of them out of a can)" is good. So is five
> or six "ingredients (and none of them out of a can)." Too many
> ingredients, and flavors get muddled, and it becomes slop.

Not always, Bryan. Take the recipe I use for Green Curry Paste; it has a
list of 11 ingredients and still has a great flavor (and quite
a 'bite')...

Green Curry Paste

1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
1 teaspoon Coriander seeds
6 Fresh green chillies - chopped
1 tablespoon Chopped lemon grass
1 teaspoon Chopped coriander root
1 tablespoon Chopped shallots
1 tablespoon Chopped garlic
1 teaspoon Chopped galangal
7 Peppercorns
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Shrimp paste

Place the cumin and coriander seeds in a pan, without adding any oil.
Dry-fry them, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes until they are aromatic and
slightly browned.

Pound them with the remaining ingredients to produce a fine paste.

--
Cheers
Chatty Cathy