The hot metal hisses as Ueuchi ladles a simple water-and-flour batter onto the surface, swirling it into a perfect disk.
Using a ladle, pour about 3 tablespoons of batter in the center of the pan, and then quickly tilt and turn the pan so the batter spreads across the surface and up the sides of the pan.
Pour on the rest of the batter and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon.
In a mixing bowl, and using an electric hand mixer, beat together the sugars and eggs until very thick and glossy – when you lift up the beaters, a ribbon of batter should stay on the surface of the mixture for several seconds.
No batter will stick to the surface when done.
The dosa batter is ready when bubbles begin to appear on the surface of the batter.
While the mixture is very similar to crepe batter, when you confine it to deep, narrow, muffinlike molds, the surface of the batter sets and the air is trapped, so that the pastry has nowhere to go but up and out, creating a gravity-defying bubble.
I had a few more variations to try out, including reducing the granulated sugar in the batter so I could sprinkle the surface with crunchy Demerara sugar.
In the case of persimmon pudding, excess baking soda enables the egg and flour proteins to react with the fruit sugars at temperatures no higher than the boiling point, and that reaction occurs throughout the batter rather than just on the surface.
Pour the egg batter into the center of the skillet and place the four eggplant slices (that you cut and kept aside earlier) on the surface of the batter, and transfer the skillet to the heated oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the surface is golden brown and the center is cooked (test the center of the eggs with a skewer, if it comes out clean then the eggs are cooked).
