My friend's the vegetarian (health & morality reasons) -- I'm an unabashed omnivore.
Spice-wise, so far we're looking at elements of Thai (mild curry/heat, butternut squash soup), Jamaican (allspice, cumin, garlic, cayenne. sweet potato-black bean stew ) and Middle Eastern (cinnamon & lemon, toasted pearl couscous w/roasted winter squash & onion).
Oil used is olive (or Pam cooking spray).
Budget, nothing to break the bank over. $12 or less.
I'm former vegan who still really likes vegan food, but I'm too much of a foodie to be anything but a dedicated omnivore.
With Thai food, I absolutely love riesling, gewurtztraminer, and chenin blanc. Sweet counteracts spicy, and thai curries often have notes like pineapple in the. In this case, the butternut squash will likely be sweet. Good riesling comes from Germany, btw. Fuck California. Far too hot to make good riesling. Also doesn't have to be sweet - it can be anywhere on the gradient from bone dry to the sweet most people know to thick and syrupy, literally, as honey. My favourite region for riesling is Mosel, up in the mountains in Germany. Very steep slopes with granite soil - big chunks of black rock, really, doesn't even look like soil. The roots draw up the granite element in the groundwater, and you get a really 'clean' taste. You know that 'mineral water' flavour, a la Evian? That comes from streams that run over mountain streambeds of slate. People usually love the "slate-y" note in water, or in wine. It's clear and refreshing. You probably also know limestone in water - that's the "hard water" kind of mouth-coating, bitter, eggy flavour. Limestone happens elsewhere, though, back to Mosel. They are going for a quality they call 'transparency' - a sense of sheerness, and elegance. It should have a delicate, perfume-y nose... all sweet fuji apples and d'anjour pears and little mandarin oranges in the can, white peaches and fresh apricot and white flowers. Perfumey, but understated. Like a pretty woman who knows not to put on too much. It reminds me of "Joy" meets someone cutting into a pear. Girly, delicate, gorgeous, fleeting, clean and sheer and slate-y. Thrilling acidity that makes it perfect with food. I could seriously sit there and smell Mosel all day. I cannot overstate how excited I am that one of your foods would work well with Mosel.
Another experiment: get a Mosel riesling, spatlese, preferably (Google "german ripeness categories" for the meaning of that second word - it's relevant, but already simply explained in many places on the internet) and any american one. The American one will be bigger, louder, riper, more bosom-y, and the Mosel will be all understated elegance. Unless you have a hardcore sweet tooth you'll never go back.
Gewurtztraminer, which literally means "the little spicy one" is a very complex, beautiful perfume-y wine, but can be almost too much for some people. White flowers, pepper, ginger, sweet fruit. It always smells like it;s going to be syrupy sweet even when it's bone dry. It's so spicy and complex it can stand up to crazy weird thai and indian foods and hold it's own, though it doesn't have the acidity of riesling, so it won't cut grease as well. Get a Gewurtz from Alasce for the trueness of type. Try it side by side with your mosel to comprehend the difference - the gewurtz is lusher and louder on the nose, but softer on the palate. Riesling is more restrained, but the acidity just sings and sings.
You can definitely get good examples of both for under $15, and probably under $12. I know for a fact that trader joe's always has a good mosel for about $10. If you are cooking two nights in a row, get both at once and try them both with the thai and the jamaican (can you cook that for me, btw?) and see what you prefer with what. They'll both do fine with both, but one will probably edge out the other in your personal preference, so compare thoroughly and be educated for the future!
definitely get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004SAF4/?tag=absowrit-20 It stops your wine from going off if you don't drink it the first night. Great for drinking slowly, or for opening a few things at once to try in comparison without wasting the rest of the bottle, so you can try them with different foods over several nights.
Try Beaujolais with the middle eastern one. It's November - the Beaujolias Noveau is here! I'll wax poetic about that later; enough for one post.