Not sure if I understand correctly, but you're already using doT as the templating engine; why not just let knockout handle the stuff doT doesn't support?
<script id="ko-dot" type="text/html">
{{~ it.items() :item }}
<div>
<span>{{=item.name()}}</span>,
<span>{{=item.age()}}</span><br>
<ul>
{{~ item.likes() :like }}
<li data-bind="event: { click: itemClick }">{{= like}}</li>
{{~}}
</ul>
</div>
{{~}}
</script>
http://jsfiddle.net/sjroesink/ytdLj/
Edit
And if you also want to change the JS notation inside the data-bind, you can use doT also:
<li data-bind="{{=it.event = { click: it.itemClick } }}">{{= like}}</li>
http://jsfiddle.net/sjroesink/ytdLj/2/
I wouldn't recommend this though, as it only limits the flexibility in defining your bindings.