You can cook a tagine in the oven or on a hob / stove top. Traditionally they are cooked over large bricks of charcoal that stay hot for hours. The reason for cooking a tagine in an oven is so that you can cook it slowly over a longer period of time. Cooking for a long time on a stove top usually results in the stew burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. This recipe is not a slow cook tagine so we are cooking it on the hob.