Will's Indian style Franks and Beans

This is one of my favorite recipes - it's simple, inexpensive, very tasty, and involves rice and beans. I'm a big fan of rice and beans. The only thing Indian style about this is the choice of primary seasonings; cumin and tumeric. It just makes for a good name. This makes enough for about eight large servings:

• 1.5 cups of brown lentils
• 5 cups of water
• 1 bullion cube
• generous sprinkling of cumin
• very generous sprinkling of tumeric
• 1 to 3 Country Natural Beef hot dogs, 1/4" rounds
• 1/2 to 1 onion, diced (optional)
• assorted vegetables or greens, such as carrots, spinach, swiss chard, etc. (optional)

Country Natural Beef hot dogs are a particular brand of all natural beef hot dogs available in natural food stores on the West Coast. They have a wonderful smoky flavor that adds substantially to the this dish. I've tried substitutes, but the result was never as good. The franks are important for the flavor of the dish, but the quantity can be adjusted to suit your budget and desire.
Wash the lentils, add water, bullion cube, spices, and optional onion, and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 35-45 minutes. Add hot dogs at the 15 minute mark. Add other vegetables and greens after a suitable amount of time: carrots should cook for about 10-15 minutes, greens for only a minute or two, etc.
Serve over white or brown rice. If you like a mild spicy flavor, I highly recommend The Wizard's Organic Hot Stuff Piquante Sauce, which seems to complement the other flavors in this dish very well. Or a sprinkling of cayenne powder after cooking is good if you're looking for straight up spiciness.