Chicken Mulligatawny Soup from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• 1 chicken breast, boned and skinned, net weight about 200 g/7 oz
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
• about 1 tablespoon lemon juice, or you might want more
• ⅛–¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4½ tablespoons water, plus 225 ml/8 fl oz water, plus more (optional) if needed
• 3 cm/1¼ inch cube of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 110 g/4 oz potato
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 1/4 litres/2 pints chicken stock, plus more (optional) if needed
• 175 g/6 oz red split lentils, picked over, washed and drained