Cornmeal
Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried corn (maize). It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.[1][2][3] In Mexico and Louisiana, very finely ground cornmeal is referred to as corn flour.[1][4] When fine cornmeal is made from maize that has been soaked in an alkaline solution, e.g., limewater (a process known as nixtamalization), it is called masa harina (or masa flour), which is used for making arepas, tamales, and tortillas.[5] Boiled cornmeal is called polenta in Italy and is also a traditional dish and bread substitute in Romania.[6]
There are various types of cornmeal:
In parts of northern India and Pakistan ground corn flour is used to make thick slabs of bread which can be eaten with a wide variety of curry dishes or it can be coated in clarified butter or ghee and eaten with yogurt or lassi, a yogurt-based drink.