Straining and Mashing

The Japanese use an uragoshi for straining and mashing. An uragoshi consists of a flat, fine-meshed net stretched drumlike over a hollow wooden frame. A bowl is placed beneath it to collect food that has been forced through the netting by a shamoji (wooden paddlelike spoon).

The uragoshi serves a variety of purposes in the Japanese kitchen. Primarily it is used to mash or rice cooked vegetables such as squash, sweet potatoes, dried beans or tōfu (bean curd). The resulting purée is velvety smooth, and unwanted stringy vegetable fibers or skins from dried beans are left clinging to the net. The uragoshi is also used to strain uncooked custards and other egg preparations.