Help! I need cornmeal, any ideas for replacement?

[artyjoe]

I'm making a chilli with a cornbread topping (Nigellas Feast) but for love nor money can I find cornmeal and it's for a family dinner tomorrow night - argh!

Any ideas where I can purchase it: Sainsbury's, Tesco & Ocado don't do it.

Are there any alternatives that I can use?

Please help, I fear the night will be a disaster Serves me right for attempting a new recipie.

Any help, advice, would be fab - Joe

[geekgrrl]

polenta is cornmeal. hth

[artyjoe]

Thanks for that...I thought polenta was a solid slab...I must be thinking of the wrong thing but I'll get on the case in the morning!

Thanks again - Joe

[kiskidee]

you can also find dried polenta in Sainsbury's, in mine near where you'd find cous cous etc.

you can als find really cheap cornmeal - plain, in fine, medium or coarse in most Asian food shops on the shelves where they will sell the varieties of flour.

[artyjoe]

Thanks for all that, what a relief! Fingers crossed Sainsbury's will come up with the goods tomorrow.

Happy Christmas - Joe

[jennifersofia]

Polenta is quite similar to cornmeal, but is slightly grittier. I mix it with some plain flour (90 polenta/ 10 plain flour). Italian delis carry polenta, as do some S'burys and possibly Waitrose. Polenta is sometimes sold ready made, that is in a block that you can cut slabs off and use, but what you want is the dry stuff that is like a flour/grain. There is also two types of this dry polenta sometimes, the traditional, which is a larger grind and needs to be cooked on a stove bubbling away for 20 minutes or more, and also the 'instant' kind, which can be cooked quite quickly in 5 minutes or so (smaller grind). You want the non-instant dry kind. This is what I use when I make cornbread and it work well.
Supermarkets tend to sell only the instant kind, Italian delis sell both instant and traditional.
More information (sorry for going on so) is that when you mix the cornbread up, don't over mix it, just some quick strokes with the whisk to make sure it is all combined. Also, for a nice crispy cornbread, put the pan (with the chili) into the oven first so it gets nice and hot and then put cornbread on top. It benefits from a quick hot cook.