Making breadcrumbs
You can buy these in bags but unless you use them a lot you'll have them lying around for ages. Alternatively, if you wait till you need them you might not be able to find them on sale. Better to make your own. If you do decide to purchase them, whatever you do, don't use the orange-coloured ones which are used for coating fish and things. They're horrible. I don't say that because I've got any reason to suspect they contain anything dangerous or unhealthy. It's just prejudice.
You can make dried breadcrumbs by completely drying the bread out in the oven then grinding it with a food processor of some kind. These crumbs will be of the kind which you can keep for ages. I never do that though. I just make them as I need them so I don't worry about the bread being completely dry. I never use a food processor either. I find it interferes with my mind-body balance.
Old bread works better than fresh bread - even day-old bread is fine. If it's still quite moist, or if you only have fresh bread, break it up into large pieces and leave it lying on a tray for a few hours to dry out. It's a good idea to do this anyway. To make the crumbs just rub the bread between your fingers. If it starts rolling into little dough-balls, it's too moist and you'll hear me saying 'I told you so.' If this happens, tear the bread up into much smaller pieces and leave it for a while longer. It will set back your plans by an hour or so, but everything will be okay in the end. You can speed up the drying by putting the bread on a tray in a warm oven. I don't do this as I don't have a warm oven. It's either hot or cold. I don't use it much at all, in fact, just for hiding things in, or burning things. You'll have noticed there aren't many oven recipes in this book. Don't worry if you get some lumps in your pile of crumbs. It won't ruin your recipe. If you use the crust of the bread you're sure to get lumps, as you'll never be able to crumble it completely with your fingers. As I say, don't worry about it.
Here's a small sample selection of breadcrumb recipes to give you some ideas:
Spinach and cheese cutlets
Paneer-beetroot cutlets
Hot stuffed tomatoes
Cold stuffed tomatoes