Recipe: La Comida Mild-Hot Tostada Sauce/Bean Dip Base

I'm so glad to have found a copycat of the La Comida tostada sauce, and wanted to clarify a few things in order to hopefully help people make a more accurate sauce.

I actually worked at La Comida in the late '90s, and all the employees were kicked out of the kitchen when the owners made the mild-hot sauce (the pink sauce/tostada sauce, whatever you want to call it). However, the first step was to make a fresh pico de gallo; this was the base for their salsa as well, as they would then blend the pico de gallo just a bit to give it a smoother texture. They would then take some of this salsa and blend it in with the other "secret" ingredients (which I'm 99% sure was mayonnaise and possibly sour cream) until it was very creamy and smooth, and thus make the mild-hot sauce which they used as a dressing for tostadas and also a topping for tacos if you requested it.

It was the mild-hot sauce that was added in to refried beans to make the bean dip, which is a question I believe someone put up on here (I'm very new to this site, so bear with me!). The usual refried beans were mixed with mild-hot and blended yet again, to make the creamier consistency than the beans used on the burritos.

I do believe that if you use a jar of pre-made salsa, there will already be sugar in the salsa, so I'd be hesitant to add more sugar. But if you're using a fresher pico de gallo, perhaps a touch of sugar to taste would be a good idea. The big trick is blending it until it's super-creamy-smooth, which is what made it into a salad dressing and dip and topping.

I'm hoping to make a trip down to the La Comida in Chico soonish, and bring back a bunch of mild-hot to compare to my own efforts in the kitchen. If/when I do so, I'm going to come back and update, because even 15+ years later I still crave that mild-hot dressing!