The burning of biomass in a traditional cookstove has led to significant particulate emissions and does not utilize the biomass efficiently. A forced draft biomass cookstove can reduce polluting emissions as compared to a traditional cookstove that is being used in developing countries. But, to achieve a cleaner combustion, it is necessary for the household to be connected with an electric supply to run the small dc-fan of such forced draft cookstoves. Thus, a thermoelectric generator (TEG) in conjunction with a biomass cookstove has been developed and deployed for electricity generation. The TEG technology deployed in a cookstove helps to run a small dc-fan even in off-grid areas. Two novel electrical circuit topologies with a TEG are presented here for the efficient power generation and clean cooking. Different types of commercially available thermoelectric generators were tested during the design & development process to obtain the required output. In addition to clean cooking, other functions such as lighting and battery charging (or mobile phone battery charging) are also available according to the user's interest and price sensitivity. (C) 2016 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.